Patent ID: 8885069

Claim:
An imaging apparatus comprising: a lens unit that collects light from a subject, the lens unit having an optical zoom function of optically changing an angle of view; an imaging unit that continuously generates electronic image data using the light collected by the lens unit; an electronic zoom unit that performs electronic zoom by sequentially trimming and enlarging or reducing an image corresponding to the image data generated by the imaging unit; a setting unit that sets an enlargement area to be enlarged in the image; a zoom manipulation unit that receives a manipulation signal for changing the angle of view through the lens unit; a reference point calculation unit that calculates a reference point passing through an end portion of an area generated by the imaging unit when the electronic zoom unit starts to perform a zoom operation in a start image, wherein the start image corresponds to the image data generated when the input of the manipulation signal by the lens manipulation unit has started; and a control unit that (1) successively detects a position of the enlargement area relative to the image in accordance with the manipulation signal received by the zoom manipulation unit, (2) performs continuous control of switching interchangeably between (A) enlargement of a center of the image by the optical zoom of the lens unit and (B) enlargement of the enlargement area by the electronic zoom of the electronic zoom unit, in accordance with the detected position of the enlargement area relative to the image when zooming up the image, and (3) responsive to a determination that both (i) the image is not smaller than the enlargement area and (ii) the end portion of the image is not positioned outside the reference point, moves the end portion of the image towards the reference point.