Patent ID: 7742694
Filing Date: 2010-06-22
Classification: G03B

Abstract:
1. An optical apparatus comprising: an image pickup element configured to convert a received optical image into an electrical signal; an aperture unit configured to restrict a quantity of light incident on the image pickup element; a manual aperture operation unit configured to give an instruction indicating that the aperture unit is manually driven by a photographer; an aperture control unit configured to automatically control the aperture unit in accordance with the electrical signal output from the image pickup element or to control driving of the aperture unit according to an operation of the manual aperture operation unit; and an operation-amount detector configured to detect an amount the manual aperture operation unit is operated, wherein, in a case where the aperture unit is automatically driven, when the operation-amount detector detects that the manual aperture operation unit is operated by an amount greater than or equal to a predetermined amount, the aperture control unit disables automatic aperture control and enables manual aperture control of the aperture unit.