Patent ID: 7403230

Claim:
An image-taking apparatus comprising: an image-pickup element which photoelectrically converts an object image formed by an image-taking optical system including a focus lens; a first detector which outputs a focus evaluation value signal representing a focusing state of the image-taking optical system, based on a predetermined frequency component of an output signal of the image-pickup element; a second detector which outputs a detection signal different from the focus evaluation value signal; and a controller which performs first processing of obtaining information for searching for an in-focus position of the focus lens, based on the focus evaluation value signal, wherein the controller performs second processing of obtaining information on an in-focus position of the focus lens, based on the detection signal from the second detector, wherein the controller performs third processing different depending on a comparison result between direction information representing a direction of the in-focus position obtained by the first processing and direction information representing a direction of the in-focus position obtained by the second processing, wherein the controller performs a first control of driving the focus lens for performing the first processing and a second control of driving the focus lens for an in-focus position search according to information obtained by the first processing, wherein the controller performs, as the third processing, processing of determining transition from the first control to the second control under different conditions, wherein the controller obtains the direction information representing the direction of the in-focus position as information on the in-focus position by each of the first and second processing and performs the first processing a plurality of number of times, and when first direction information obtained by the first processing matches second direction information obtained by the second processing, the controller performs processing of determining the transition from the first control to the second control on condition that the first direction information is the same a first number of times in succession, and when the first direction information does not match the second direction information, the controller performs processing of determining the transition from the first control to the second control on condition that the first direction information is the same a second number of times in succession larger than the first number of times.