Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Ichiro Onuki

Eriko Kawanami

Akio Kashiwazaki

Eriko Namazue

Takeshi Miyazaki

Koichi Fukuda

Makoto Oikawa

Akihiro Nishio

Goro Noto

Hideaki Yamamoto

Ryo Yamasaki

Masataka Yashima

Makoto Takamiya

Makoto Mizuno

Kenichi Kobayashi

Akihiko Nagano

Osamu Kanome

Kohei Watanabe

Shigeo Ogura

Kenji Yoshida

Jun Ota

Makoto Sasaki

Keita Misawa

Yasuo Suda

Koichi Washisu

Naoya Kaneda

Takayuki Tsuboi

Fumihiro Kajimura

Ryuji Katsuragi

Yoshihito Tamaki

Tatsuo Chigira

Makoto Misaka

Yuki Yoshimura

Masao Shikaumi

Toshiyuki Kumakura

Yoshitaka Hashimoto

Hirohito Kai

A pair of pupil regions of an exit pupil, through which light beams received by a pair of photoelectric conversion units included in a pixel portion of a first image sensor respectively pass, are overlapped. A pair of pupil regions of an exit pupil, through which light beams received by a pair of photoelectric conversion units included in a pixel portion of a second image sensor respectively pass, are overlapped. A second base length, which is a distance between centroids of the pair of pupil regions corresponding to the pair of photoelectric conversion units included in the pixel portion of the second image sensor, is longer than a first base length, which is a distance between centroids of the pair of pupil regions corresponding to the pair of photoelectric conversion units included in the pixel portion of the first image sensor.

Imaging apparatus with two image sensors

An image sensor comprising a plurality of image sensing pixel groups is provided. Each of the image sensing pixel groups has a plurality of first pixels each having photoelectric conversion portions arrayed in first and second directions for first and second numbers of divisions, respectively, and a plurality of second pixels each having photoelectric conversion portions arrayed in the first and second directions for third and fourth numbers of divisions, respectively. The photoelectric conversion portions comprising the first pixel and the second pixel have a function of photoelectrically converting a plurality of images formed by divided light fluxes of a light flux from an imaging optical system and outputting a focus detection signal for phase difference detection. The first and third numbers of division are coprime natural numbers, and the second and fourth numbers of divisions are coprime natural numbers.

Image sensor and image capturing apparatus

An image sensor comprises a first imaging pixel and a second imaging pixel each of which detects an object image formed by a photographing optical system and generates a recording image. Each of the first imaging pixel and the second imaging pixel comprises a plurality of photoelectric conversion units segmented in a first direction, the plurality of photoelectric conversion units have an ability of photoelectrically converting images formed by split light beams out of a light beam from the photographing optical system and outputting focus detection signals to be used to detect a phase difference. A base-line length of photoelectric conversion units to be used to detect the phase difference included in the first imaging pixel is longer than that of photoelectric conversion units to be used to detect the phase difference included in the second imaging pixel.

An image capture apparatus includes: an image sensor having a plurality of pixels that photoelectrically convert an object image formed by an imaging optical system, each of the pixels having one microlens and a photoelectric conversion portion that has been divided into a plurality of portions; a focus detection unit configured to correct an image shift amount detected with a phase difference detection method using focus detection signal arrays of two images obtained by the photoelectric conversion portions divided into a plurality of portions; and a controller that calculates information corresponding to a movement amount of a lens of the imaging optical system based on the image shift amount detected and corrected by the focus detection unit, and controls movement of the lens of the imaging optical system.

Image capture apparatus that performs focus detection with a phase difference detection method

A solid-state image sensor which comprises a pixel group in which unit pixels each including a microlens and a plurality of photo-electric converters are arrayed two-dimensionally, wherein a shielding unit that shields part of all of a plurality of photo-electric converters corresponding to a single microlens is provided in a portion of the unit pixels.

Solid-state image sensor having a shielding unit for shielding some of photo-electric converters and image capturing apparatus including the solid-state image sensor

An image sensor that output a signal for detecting a focus state of a photographing lens. The image sensor includes a microlens; a light-receiving pixel; a first focus state detection pixel pair for outputting a focus state detection signal, in which aperture areas of the first focus state detection pixel pair are small in comparison to the light-receiving pixel; and a second focus state detection pixel pair for outputting a focus state detection signal, in which aperture areas of the second focus state detection pixel pair are small in comparison to the light-receiving pixel, wherein the second focus state detection pixel pair is arranged at a position that is shifted by a predetermined amount relative to each aperture position, with respect to the microlens of the first focus state detection pixel pair.

Solid-state image sensing element and image sensing apparatus for detecting a focus state of a photographing lens

A focus detection device having imaging pixels and focus-detecting pixels using a phase-difference focus detection method implements high-precision focus detection. In the focus detection device, a plurality of pixels each having a photoelectric conversion unit for converting an incident light flux into signal charges, and a microlens having a focus position near the photoelectric conversion unit are arranged. The plurality of pixels include a plurality of imaging pixels for generating a shot image, and a plurality of focus-detecting pixels for generating an image signal for focus detection by the phase-difference focus detection method. An opening for giving a pupil division function to the focus-detecting pixel is formed using electrodes arranged to read out signal charges from the photoelectric conversion unit.

Focus detection device and imaging apparatus having the same

A focus detection apparatus includes an image forming optical system, an image sensing unit which photoelectrically converts the object image, and a focus detection unit which detects the focus state of the imaging optical system from a pixel signal from the image sensing unit. The focus detection unit includes a first focus detection pixel which divides the exit pupil of the image forming optical system in the first direction and receives a light beam, and a second focus detection pixel which divides the exit pupil of the image forming optical system in the second direction different from the first direction, and receives a light beam. The first and second focus detection pixels are periodically arranged near the lattice points of a 2-dimensional lattice formed from first lattice lines set in a predetermined unit area of the image sensing unit, and second lattice lines crossing the first lattice lines.

Image sensor and focus detection apparatus

An image-pickup apparatus is provided which allows a user to accurately and easily know the out-of-focus amount for various images or objects. The image-pickup apparatus which picks up an image of an object comprises a producing unit for producing a pair of object images, the object images being displaced from each other in accordance with a displacement of the object from an in-focus position in an optical axis direction, an image combining unit for superposing and combining the pair of object images produced by the producing unit into an image, and a display unit for displaying the image resulting from the combination by the image combining unit.

Image-pickup apparatus

An image capturing apparatus includes an image sensor, composition unit, coupling unit, and arithmetic unit. The image sensor has a plurality of pupil-divided focus detection portions each formed from a first focus detection pixel and second focus detection pixel. The composition unit composites signals output from the first focus detection pixels to obtain a first composite signal, and composites signals output from the second focus detection pixels to obtain a second composite signal in each of sections assigned to the image sensor to include a plurality of focus detection portions. The coupling unit couples first composite signals to obtain a first coupled signal, and couples second composite signals to obtain a second coupled signal in the plurality of sections. The arithmetic unit calculates the defocus amount of an image forming optical system on the basis of the first and second coupled signals.

Image capturing apparatus and control method therefor

A production process of a light amount adjustment member, by which a cheap light amount adjustment member hating excellent optical properties can be simply produced is provided. A light amount adjustment device and a photographing apparatus which are cheap, have excellent optical properties and are equipped with the light amount adjustment member are provided by providing the simple production process of the light amount adjustment member. The production process comprises the step of relatively scanning an ink-jet head, from which an ink is ejected on a transparent base material, on the surface of which an ink-receiving layer has been formed, to the transparent base material to apply the ink to the ink-receiving layer, thereby forming a light amount adjustment region, wherein in the step of forming the light amount adjustment region, the ink is ejected from the ink-jet head in such a manner that the ink is applied to the whole light amount adjustment region.

Production process of light amount adjustment member, light amount adjustment member, light amount adjustment device and photographing apparatus

An optical-element driving mechanism is configured to drive an optical element, and includes a uniaxial driving mechanism that includes a linear actuator that drives in a first direction, and a link mechanism that converts a displacement in a direction orthogonal to the first direction. The linear actuator is level with the link mechanism in an optical-axis direction. The uniaxial driving mechanism is arranged in order of the link mechanism and the linear actuator in a radial direction when viewed form an optical axis of the optical element.

Driving mechanism and optical element driving apparatus

A production process of a light amount adjustment member, by which a light amount adjustment member that can sufficiently satisfy optical properties can be economically produced at low production cost and high yield by a simple operation is provided. In addition, a wide variety of light amount adjustment devices and photographing apparatus equipped with a light amount adjustment member are cheaply provided while achieving satisfactory optical properties. The production process of the light amount adjustment member comprises the step of applying a coloring liquid containing a coloring material to a transparent base material using a liquid jet recording process to form a light amount adjustment region having a particular optical density.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Ichiro Onuki