Patent ID: 8013901

Claim:
A camera apparatus for vehicles having an imaging element and a lens comprising: a gradation generation unit for passively stepwise changing an amount of light reaching a whole or part of the imaging element in a direction corresponding to an up and down direction, in which said gradation generation unit is a light shielding plate arranged between the imaging element and the lens; in which said gradation generation unit decides the concentration and area of the gradation according to the size and the position of the light shielding plate; and in which said gradation region is generated between a light shielding region where the light incident from the lens is substantially shielded and a valid information region where the light incident from the lens is transmitted substantially as it is, and when a horizon is defined in the imaging region, the amount of light reaching the imaging element is changed stepwise in a part region of upper side and lower side of the horizon, respectively.