Patent ID: 8537265

Claim:
An imaging apparatus comprising: an auto-focus (AF) unit configured to automatically focus on a subject based on a default in-focus condition group that comprises a plurality of in-focus conditions; a first input mechanism configured to allow a user to input an in-focus operation start command for starting an in-focus operation of the AF unit; a second input mechanism configured to allow the user to input a main photographing start command for starting main photographing with the focus achieved by the AF unit; a photographing environment storing unit configured to store photographing stop data comprising an AF result when the in-focus operation start command is input and the main photographing start command is not input from the user; a virtual in-focus condition group generating unit configured to generate an assumed in-focus condition group by estimating an in-focus condition that may be more preferable to the user from among the plurality of in-focus conditions of the default in-focus condition group and changing a set value of at least one in-focus condition of the default in-focus condition group or a weighted value allocated to at least one in-focus condition based on the photographing stop data; an assumption confirming unit configured to set the default in-focus condition group or the assumed in-focus condition group to be used by the AF unit during photographing, and configured to determine a success rate, wherein the success rate is a ratio of a number of times the in-focus operation start command is input to a number of times the main photographing start command is input when the default in-focus condition group is set, or correspondingly when the assumed in-focus condition group is set; and an in-focus condition group changing unit configured to change the default in-focus condition group to be the assumed in-focus condition group if an in-focus success rate determined for the assumed in-focus condition group is higher by a predetermined value than an in-focus success rate determined for the default in-focus condition group.