Patent ID: 8417107

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus, comprising: an image processing section for producing image data; a spatial frequency extraction section for setting a region of an image as a spatial frequency extraction area, extracting high frequency components of the spatial frequency extraction area, and producing integration data of the extracted high frequency components, the spatial frequency extraction section receiving the image data for the image from the image processing section; a lens driving control section configured to execute driving control of the lens; a pre-driver controlled by the lens driving control section for producing a voltage waveform or a current waveform; a driver for driving a lens, the voltage waveform or the current waveform produced by the pre-driver being inputted to the driver; and a main control section configured to produce lens driving control information for the lens driving control section, the lens driving control information including an in-focus position for said lens, a final setting position for said lens, and a returning amount, the returning amount being a distance over which said lens is returned after said lens passes the in-focus position, wherein said lens driving control section being operable to execute the process of moving said lens to pass the in-focus position once in response to the returning amount and then execute a returning process by the returning amount to position said lens to the final setting position, wherein the spatial frequency extraction section is formed from a combination of a high-pass filter, a band-pass filter, and a low-pass filter, and wherein said main control section executes a process of determining the returning amount corresponding to the lens setting position by means of a table in which the returning amount varies non-linearly with respect to the lens setting position.