Patent ID: 8229293

Claim:
An imaging apparatus comprising: an image taking unit which takes an image of an object; an infrared reduction filter formed in association with said image taking unit; a filter control unit which controls to move said infrared reduction filter away from a light path associated with said image taking unit when a change relating to an object is to be detected, and which controls to move said infrared reduction filter onto the light path when an image of the object is to be recorded; a detecting unit which detects a change relating to an object on the basis of a plurality of images taken by said image taking unit; a recording control unit which records a color image of the object by enabling said infrared reduction filter by said filter control unit, when a change relating to an object is detected; and a focal point detecting unit which detects a focused focal point of an imaging optical system by using a hi-frequency component of signal components contained in an image signal output from said image taking unit, while said infrared reduction filter is moved away from the light path, wherein said image taking unit takes the image at a first frame rate when an image of the object is to be recorded, and said image taking unit takes the image at a second frame rate higher than the first frame rate when a change relating to an object is to be detected, wherein after said infrared reduction filter is moved onto the light path, said image taking unit keeps the focused focal point detected while said infrared reduction filter is moved onto the light path, and said recording control unit records a color image taken by said image taking unit in accordance with the detected focused focal point detected by said focal point detecting unit.