Patent ID: 8305481

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus, comprising: an image pickup device which captures an image regarding an object image; object detecting means for detecting a specific object from the captured image; focus control means for executing a focusing operation on the basis of a phase-difference detection signal obtained from a distance measurement area set at a predetermined position in an image capturing area; display control means for causing a display unit to display a display element indicating a position of the specific object and one or more display elements regarding the distance measurement area; first determining means for determining whether or not the focusing operation has been executed on the basis of the phase-difference detection signal regarding the specific object; and second determining means for determining whether or not the specific object which has been detected overlaps any one of the one or more display elements regarding the distance measurement area, and when a determination result thereof indicates that an overlap exist for determining whether or not the focusing operation can be performed based on the phase-difference detection signal regarding the specific object, and when the determination result thereof indicates that the overlap does not exist for determining that the focusing operation cannot be performed, wherein the display control means changes a display mode of the display element indicating the position of the specific object in accordance with the result of the determination performed by the first determining means, wherein the display control means changes the display mode of the display element indicating the position of the specific object in accordance with the result of the determination performed by the second determining means before the execution of the focusing operation, and wherein each said display mode is represented by a respective predetermined color such that a first display mode is represented by a first predetermined color, a second display mode is represented by a second predetermined color, and a third display mode is represented by a third predetermined color, in which each of the first predetermined color, the second predetermined color and the third predetermined color is different from each other so that changes in the display mode are represented by predetermined color changes.