Patent ID: 7872099

Claim:
A camera device comprising: iris means for varying an incident light amount; shutter control means for varying a shutter speed of an imaging element; signal processing means for processing an image signal from the imaging element; exposure target calculation means for calculating a control value used for controlling the iris means or the shutter control means so that an exposure amount will be a target value according to information on a signal level from the signal processing means; malfunction judgment means for deciding that a malfunction has occurred when the signal level from the signal processing means is higher than a predetermined level threshold and the control value calculated by the exposure target calculation means is out of a normal control range defined by a predetermined threshold value, for more than a predetermined time period; and wherein the control value obtained by the exposure target calculation means is an iris control value for controlling the iris means or a shutter speed control value for controlling the shutter control means, wherein, when the signal level from the signal processing means is higher than a predetermined level threshold value, the malfunction judgment means compares the iris control value to a predetermined iris threshold value to decide that the control value is out of the normal control range, or the malfunction judgment means compares the shutter speed control value to a predetermined shutter speed threshold value to decide that the control value is out of the normal control range.