Patent ID: 7609958

Claim:
A method for calibrating an imaging system having mounted to a body, a scene image capture system that captures images using a taking lens system that can be set to a plurality of different focus distances and a rangefinder that is capable of determining a distance between the imaging system and at least one portion of a field of view of the taking lens system, without using the image capture system, the method comprising the steps of: automatically capturing a first calibration image of a first field of view through the taking lens system with the taking lens system set to a first focus distance setting; identifying a portion of the first calibration image having a predetermined degree of focus; using the rangefinder to determine a first calibration distance from the imaging device to the identified portion of the first calibration image; determining a focus correlation based upon the first calibration distance and the first focus distance setting, said focus correlation associating each of the plurality of focus distance settings with at least one rangefinder determined distance; and detecting a capture condition indicating that the scene image capture system is to be used to capture an archival image of a scene, and in response thereto, performing the steps of: determining a capture distance from the imaging system to a portion of the field of view of the taking lens system using the rangefinder, and setting the focus distance setting for the taking lens system for the capture of the archival image based upon the determined focus correlation and the determined capture distance.