Patent ID: 7221399

Claim:
An imaging apparatus having an imaging lens, an imaging device for capturing an image formed by the imaging lens, and a camera control unit, wherein said imaging lens is a multifocal lens composed of a first lens portion having a first focal length for imaging a first object at a normal distance and a second lens portion having a second focal length for imaging a second object nearer than the first object, and the first lens portion and the second lens portion are arranged on the same plane and formed in one piece; said multifocal lens is arranged in such a manner that the optical axis of said first lens portion coincides with the optical axis of said second lens portion, and at the same time, light passing through said first lens portion is incident on the whole plane of said imaging device, and light passing through said second lens portion is also incident on the whole plane of said imaging device; and said camera control unit performs a process to obtain an image of said first object by compensating for a contrast lowered by the light passing through said second lens portion being incident on said imaging device as light not forming in image when said first object is imaged, and performs a process to obtain an image of said second object by compensating for a contrast lowered by the light passing through said first lens portion being incident on said imaging device as light not forming in image when said second object is imaged.