Patent ID: 8144216

Claim:
An imaging apparatus, comprising: an image sensor having a light receiving surface with a plurality of pixels and a color separation filter of a plurality of colors on a front side of each of the pixels, which receives light incident from a photographic subject via an optical system on the light receiving surface via the color separation filter and outputs as a pixel output of the each of the pixels and images an image of the photographic subject; a pixel output judging processor which judges if each pixel output reaches each predetermined judging level or not; a pixel output compensation processor, wherein in a case where at least one of a pixel output of a pixel on which a specific color filter is placed of the pixels and a pixel output of a pixel on which a color filter other than the specific color filter is placed of the pixels in the vicinity of the pixel on which the specific color filter is placed is judged to reach a predetermined judging level by the pixel output judging processor, which compensates the pixel output of the pixel on which the specific color filter is placed; and a bit compression convertor which performs a bit compression such that pixel output data outputted from the pixel output compensation processor which is once converted from a first bit number into a second bit number larger than the first bit number is converted again into the first bit number, wherein the bit compression convertor, based on a bit compression characteristic set in each of segments that an image plane corresponding to the light receiving surface of the image sensor is plurally divided in the vertical and horizontal directions, performs the bit compression on the pixel output data in each of the segments.