Patent ID: 7397609

Claim:
An imaging apparatus, comprising: an imaging optical system that performs step drive of an angle of view of a zoom; angle of view specifying means for specifying the angle of view of the zoom; commanding means for issuing a command to take a picture; control means for performing the step drive of an optical zoom of said imaging optical system in a direction of the specified angle of view when the picture taking command is performed to record a subject image by use of said imaging optical system at a time point of passing the specified angle of view said angle of view specifying means is means for specifying an angle of view continuously or at a width finer than a width of the step drive, and said control means controls step positions of said imaging optical system so as to follow a neighborhood of the specified angle of view and performs the step drive of the optical zoom of said imaging optical system in the direction of the specified angle of view from a step position near the optical zoom of said imaging optical system when the picture taking command is performed for recording the subject image at a time point of passing the specified angle of view.