Patent ID: 8576331
Filing Date: 2013-11-05
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An image pickup apparatus that includes an image pickup section for picking up object light and outputting an image signal, comprising: a first brightness detection unit configured to detect an entire-screen brightness frequency distribution based on the image signal; a first exposure control value calculation unit configured to calculate a first exposure control value from the entire-screen brightness frequency distribution; a second brightness detection unit configured to divide the image signal into a plurality of small areas and detect a brightness of each of the small areas; a second exposure control value calculation unit configured to calculate a second exposure control value from the brightness, which is detected by said second brightness detection unit, of each of the small areas; an exposure correction value calculation unit configured to calculate an exposure correction value based on the first exposure control value and the second exposure control value; an exposure value calculation unit configured to calculate an exposure value using the exposure correction value and an exposure value used in outputting the image signal; and an exposure control unit configured to perform exposure control of the image pickup section based on the exposure value calculated by said exposure value calculation unit.