Patent ID: 6317565
Filing Date: 2001-11-13
Classification: G03B

Abstract:
A camera comprising:a photo-taking lens capable of zooming;a zooming state detection device that detects a zooming state of said photo-taking lens;a view finder zoomable in synchronization with zooming of said photo-taking lens;a viewing line detection device having a plurality of viewing line detecting areas, where respective positions of said viewing line detecting areas are fixed in said zoomable view finder regardless of the zooming state of said view finder, and said viewing line detection device detects which viewing line detecting area includes a user's viewing line;a range finding device having a plurality of range finding areas, where respective positions of range finding areas are varied in said view finder in accordance with the zooming state of the view finder, and said range finding device performs respective range finding operations in each of said range finding areas; anda selection device including a table of correspondence relationships among the zooming state of said view finder, the range finding areas and the viewing line detecting areas stored in memory, where the zooming state and the viewing line detection areas are factors, and the table stores information that determines range finding areas, wherein said selection device sets the viewing line detecting areas detected by the viewing line detection device and the zooming state detected by the zooming state detection device as factors of the table, reads out at least one piece of information stored in the table, and selects a range finding area.