Patent ID: 8035726

Claim:
A digital camera comprising: a taking lens which forms a subject image of a subject; a lens drive section which moves the taking lens along an optical axis; an imaging section which repeatedly takes the subject image formed by the taking lens at a predetermined time interval to output a sequence of image signals; a focus evaluation value calculation section which repeatedly calculates a focus evaluation value representing a degree of a focusing state of the taking lens with respect to the subject image, on the basis of the image signals output from the imaging section; a manual focus controller which controls the lens drive section to move the taking lens in response to a manual operation; a focus evaluation value change detection section which detects a change in the focus evaluation value generated by the movement of the taking lens; an auto focus controller which controls the lens drive section in accordance with the change in the focus evaluation value detected by the focus evaluation value change detection section to moves the taking lens so as to be focused on the imaging section; and a switching section which automatically switches the control of the lens drive section from the manual focus controller to the auto focus controller when the focus evaluation value change detection section detects that the focus evaluation value has changed by decreasing beyond a peak value at the time when the taking lens is moved by the manual focus controller.