Patent ID: 8593545

Claim:
An imaging apparatus comprising: a lens unit that condenses light from a visual field region; an imaging unit that includes an imaging element for converting the light condensed by the lens unit into an electric signal and continuously generates electronic image data based on the electric signal; a storage unit that stores the image data generated by the imaging unit; a display unit that displays an image based on the image data generated by the imaging unit; an input unit that receives an input of a change instruction signal used to change a first capturing mode in which capturing is performed at a first vertical-to-horizontal ratio to a second capturing mode in which the capturing is performed at a second vertical-to-horizontal ratio different from the first vertical-to-horizontal ratio; a first image trimming unit that generates a captured image that is trimmed from an image included in image data generated by the imaging unit when the change instruction signal is input by the input unit while the imaging apparatus is in the first capturing mode, the captured image having a vertical-to-horizontal ratio between the first vertical-to-horizontal ratio and the second vertical-to-horizontal ratio; a target detection unit that detects a subject from an imaging-region image which is an image corresponding to the image data generated by the imaging unit when the first capturing mode is switched to the second capturing mode; a region setting unit that performs initial setting on a record region trimmed from the imaging-region image and recorded at the second vertical-to-horizontal ratio based on a position of the subject detected by the target subject detection unit and performs setting of moving a central position of the initially set record region toward a central position of the imaging-region image by a predetermined amount, wherein the first image trimming unit generates the captured image trimmed from the imaging-region image based on the record region set by the region setting unit; and an output unit that outputs an indication in which the vertical-to-horizontal ratio of the captured image becomes the second vertical-to-horizontal ratio, when the vertical-to-horizontal ratio of the captured image generated by the first image trimming unit reaches the second vertical-to-horizontal ratio after the change instruction signal is input by the input unit, wherein the input unit includes a switch advancing or retreating by a pressing force from the outside, and the switch receives an input of the change instruction signal when the switch is halfway pressed, and the switch receives an input of a capturing instruction signal of the second capturing mode when the switch is fully pressed.