Patent ID: 8233059

Claim:
An image sensing apparatus comprising: an image sensor which generates an electrical signal commensurate with an amount of incident light, and has a photoelectric conversion characteristic comprised of a linear characteristic area, where the electrical signal is outputted after being linearly converted in relation to the amount of incident light, and a logarithmic characteristic area, where the electrical signal is outputted after being logarithmically converted in relation to the amount of incident light; the photoelectric conversion characteristic defined by an inflection point between the linear characteristic area and the logarithmic characteristic area; an average luminance detector configured to calculate an average luminance of a plurality of points of a subject in sensing an image of the subject; an exposure evaluation value detector configured to determine an exposure evaluation value based on the average luminance; an exposure controller configured to acquire a setting value for exposure based on the exposure evaluation value to control exposure of the image sensing apparatus; wherein the exposure controller is configured to determine a subject luminance for exposure setting based on the exposure evaluation value, and is configured to control the exposure such that an output of the image sensor corresponding to the subject luminance for exposure setting is obtained from the linear characteristic area of the photoelectric conversion characteristic defined by an inflection point of the image sensor with respect to any amount of the subject luminance, and is not obtained from the logarithmic characteristic area of the photoelectric conversion characteristic area; the exposure controller further including: an exposure amount controller configured to control an exposure amount; a dynamic range controller configured to control the photoelectric conversion characteristic of the image sensor, wherein the dynamic range controller preferentially controls the photoelectric conversion characteristic, and wherein if the subject luminance for an exposure setting is lower than a redetermined value the exposure amount controller controls the exposure amount in combination with the control of the photoelectric conversion characteristic by the dynamic range controller.