Patent ID: 6958773

Claim:
A device that calculates a white balance control amount for an electronic still camera, comprising: an image signal generator that generates an image signal corresponding to a first image formed on a light receiving surface of an imaging device; an image area extractor that extracts at least one image area from said first image, which contains a second image of a subject positioned at a predetermined distance from said electronic still camera, said second image being in-focus; and a control amount calculator that calculates a control amount for performing a white balance adjustment, based on an image signal relating to a single image area contained in said at least one image area, wherein said image area extractor comprises a three dimensional image data sensing processor that senses three dimensional data indicating a distance from said electronic still camera to each point on a surface of said subject to obtain said second image, and said single image area is formed by selecting pixels from said first image corresponding to points within a predetermined range from said predetermined distance.