Patent ID: 8041206

Claim:
An imaging apparatus, comprising: an image sensor constituted by a plurality of photoelectric converting elements which are arranged in a matrix and capable of being accessed randomly; control means for controlling the charge accumulation initiation timing and the charge accumulation cessation timing of the photoelectric converting elements line by line or pixel by pixel; image forming means for forming images employing pixel signals which are output from the photoelectric converting elements; flash driving means for driving a flash during a set preliminary emission period and a set main emission period; and flash emission amount calculating means for extracting pixel signals from the image which has been formed by the image forming means, and for executing predetermined calculations based on the extracted pixel signals to determine a flash emission amount to be employed during the main emission period, wherein the extract pixel signals are such signals as to be output from photoelectric converting elements in which charge accumulation is initiated prior to the preliminary emission period and charge accumulation is ceased after the preliminary emission period, the flash emission amount calculating means determines the lines including pixels to be used for the calculations, based on an amount of time between initiation of charge accumulation by photoelectric converting elements in a first line and initiation of preliminary emission; wherein the lines including pixels to be used do not include lines which begin charge accumulation after the initiation of preliminary emission or cease charge accumulation before initiation of preliminary emission, and the flash emission amount calculating means determines parameters to be employed in the predetermined calculations based on at least one of the number of extracted pixel signals and the positions of pixels that correspond to the extracted pixel signals.