Patent ID: 7801433
Filing Date: 2010-09-21
Classification: G03B,H04N

Abstract:
1. A camera with AF auxiliary illumination, comprising: an image taking lens; an image pickup device for acquiring an image of an object through the image taking lens; an AF auxiliary illumination emitting device which emits an AF auxiliary illumination toward the object if a photometric value of the object is less than a predetermined value; a photometer which measures the AF auxiliary illumination reflected from the object to obtain a photometric value of the reflected AF auxiliary illumination; an AF auxiliary illumination controlling device which gradually decreases an emission amount of the AF auxiliary illumination if the photometric value of the reflected AF auxiliary illumination is greater than or equal to a first specified value so that the AF auxiliary illumination is dimmed out, and which controls the emission amount of the AF auxiliary illumination based on a focus position of the image taking lens; and an AF controlling device which controls the focus position of the image taking lens based on contrast information of the image acquired from the image pickup device while the emission amount of the AF auxiliary illumination is decreased.