Patent ID: 8305484

Claim:
A focus adjustment apparatus with a focus assistant facility, comprising: a search device configured to automatically move a lens for forming an image of a subject on an image pickup device in a lens travel range from vicinity to infinity before a manual focus adjustment is started; a focal information calculating device configured to calculate focal information depending on a contrast of the subject based on an image signal output from the image pickup device each time the search device automatically moves the lens by a predetermined amount; an autofocus adjustment device configured to perform an autofocus adjustment to obtain a maximum value of each piece of focal information calculated by the focal information calculating device when the search device moves the lens, and to move the lens to a lens position in which the maximum value is obtained; a focal information display device configured to display a graph illustrating a relationship between each lens position and focal information about each lens position in the lens travel range, based on the focal information about each lens position calculated by the focal information calculating device while the autofocus adjustment is performed before the manual focus adjustment is started; and an operation device configured to perform the manual focus adjustment to move the lens according to manual operation after the autofocus adjustment device moves the lens to the lens position in which the maximum value is obtained, wherein: the focal information calculating device calculates focal information based on an image signal output from the image pickup device each time the lens moves according to the manual operation by the operation device, and each time the lens moves to a moved position according the manual operation by the operation device while the manual focus adjustment is performed, the focal information display device adds focal information about the moved position obtained when the manual focus adjustment is performed to the graph illustrating the relationship between each lens position and the focal information obtained when the search device automatically moves the lens.