Patent ID: 7298413

Claim:
A photographing apparatus comprising: a photographing lens for photographing a subject image; a photographing device for receiving said subject image and outputting a photographing signal into which the subject image is photo-electrically transferred; a driving device for driving said photographing lens; and a control device for controlling said driving device, wherein said control device divides a driving range of said photographing lens into sections, drives said photographing lens to boundaries between said divided sections in sequence by said driving device, figures out an evaluation value based on said photographing signal obtained from said photographing device at said each boundary, derives an interpolation function from said evaluation values at said boundaries, derives interpolation values at all driving positions of said photographing lens within said each section based on said interpolation function, and judges whether a focus position exists or not based on said evaluation values and said interpolation values, wherein if said focus position is identified, said control device executes judgment of focus to drive said photographing lens to said focus position, and if said focus position is not identified, said control device judges whether said focus position is near or not to be shifted for performing fine adjustment when said focus position turns out to be near.