Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Takaaki Fukui

Eiichiro Ikeda

Toshiaki Endo

Takashi Kawakami

An image pickup apparatus that eliminate manual change of an image pickup direction during picking up an image and can easily obtain an image that records experience while focusing attention on the experience. An image pickup unit picks up a wide-angle image. A face direction detection unit detects a direction of a face of a user. A user movement detection unit detects a movement of the user. A processor executes a set of instructions stored in a memory device to detect a vertical movement and/or a horizontal movement of the face based on an output of the face direction detection unit, determine a position and/or a size of an extraction image extracted from the wide-angle image based on the direction and movements of the face and the movement of the user, and extract the extraction image from the wide angle image with the position and/or the size determined.

Image pickup apparatus used as action camera, control method therefor, and storage medium storing control program therefor

An image pickup apparatus that eliminates manual change of an image pickup direction during an image pickup operation. The image pickup apparatus is worn on a body part of a user other than a head and includes an image pickup unit that obtains a wide-angle image, a memory device that stores instructions, and a processor that executes the instructions to: detect a visual-line direction of the user, set an observation direction of the image pickup unit to be parallel to the visual-line direction, obtain an image extraction position from the wide-angle image, detect an object in the observation direction from the wide-angle image in picking up an image of the object, detect an object distance from the image pickup unit to the object, correct the image extraction position according to the visual-line direction and the object distance, and output and record a corrected image extraction position to a memory.

Image pickup apparatus used as action camera, calibrator, control methods therefor, and storage media storing control programs therefor

A camera body includes an infrared LED that applies infrared light toward a face of a user that is a subject, and an infrared detection camera. The camera body determines a first irradiation amount of the infrared LED and a second exposure condition of the infrared detection camera in accordance with an LED OFF image acquired by capturing an image of the subject in a first exposure condition used by the infrared detection camera without the infrared light applied toward the subject, acquires the LED OFF image and acquires an image (LED ON image) of the subject irradiated with a first irradiation amount in image capture in a second exposure condition used by the infrared detection camera, and detect a face direction of the subject by using a difference image between these images.

Image capture apparatus, control method, and computer-executable medium

An apparatus comprises a detection unit configured to detect an object region from an image, a first processing unit configured to perform first image processing on the object region, a second processing unit configured to perform second image processing on a region other than the object region, a first determination unit configured to determine, in the object region, a first referential region to undergo the first image processing and having a size approximating the object region; and a second determination unit configured to determine a second referential region having a size approximating the object region and different from the size of the first referential region, in order to determine the region to undergo the second image processing.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method and storage medium

An image capturing apparatus capable of displaying a live view image high in visibility on a high-luminance side. An image capturing section converts light from an object to image signals. An image processor performs image processing on image data formed by the image signals. An operation section receives an instruction for setting a live view mode for realizing a live view function. When an OVF simulation mode is set which is different from a recording live view mode for displaying image data subjected to the image processing on the image display section based on user's photographing settings, photographing is performed under an exposure condition darker than a proper exposure, gradation conversion for compensating for a difference in exposure condition from the proper exposure is performed, and display luminance is controlled to be brighter than display luminance in the recording live view mode.

Image capturing apparatus capable of displaying live view image high in visibility, method of controlling image capturing apparatus, and storage medium

An image capturing apparatus provided with an image capturing unit that captures a first image, a scene discrimination unit that discriminates a scene of an object a candidate generation unit that generates a shooting setting candidate, based on a result of the discrimination, an image generation unit that generates, based on the shooting setting candidate, an image reflecting an effect obtained by the shooting setting candidate, and a display device. The candidate generation unit performs at least one of a first operation for generating a plurality of shooting setting candidates in which a predetermined parameter is separated by greater than a threshold value and a second operation for generating at least one shooting setting candidate based on the result of the discrimination, and the display device preferentially displays the shooting setting candidates generated by the first operation.

Image capturing apparatus, image processing apparatus, and control methods thereof

An imaging apparatus configured to perform white balance correction on an image captured with flash emission includes an object region specifying unit configured to specify an object region irradiated with flash by the flash emission, a first white balance coefficient calculation unit configured to calculate a first white balance coefficient based on a light amount of flash for the object region specified by the object region specifying unit and a light amount of external light, an object distance calculation unit configured to calculate an object distance when imaging with the flash emission includes underwater photography, and a second white balance coefficient calculation unit configured to calculate a second white balance coefficient from the first white balance coefficient and the object distance calculated by the object distance calculation unit when the object distance calculated by the object distance calculation unit is equal to or less than a predetermined distance.

Imaging apparatus, method for controlling imaging apparatus, and storage medium, for underwater flash photography

An image capturing apparatus and a control method capable of obtaining an image with a wide dynamic range, without using a special image sensor. An amount of dynamic range enhancement for lessening an amount of blown-out highlights of an image is determined based on the amount of blown-out highlights. An image with enhanced dynamic range is then obtained, by performing image capture at a sensitivity that has been lessened based on the amount of dynamic range enhancement, and correcting a drop in brightness of the captured image due to the lessened sensitivity.

Image capturing apparatus and control method thereof

An image processing apparatus divides image data captured while a flash light is not emitted into a plurality of areas, calculates color evaluation value for each of the divided areas. The apparatus divides image data captured while the flash light is emitted into a plurality of areas and to calculate color evaluation value for each of the divided areas. The apparatus determines a movement for each of the plurality of areas in accordance with the calculated color evaluation value and the calculated color evaluation value. The apparatus performs white balance processing into image data in accordance with the determined movement.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method

An image capturing apparatus determines a scene of a captured image, and, depending on the scene determination result, performs image capture with an expanded dynamic range, or performs a dynamic range contraction process based on the captured image. In the case of executing the dynamic range expansion process, the image capturing apparatus performs image capture at a decreased ISO speed, and performs tone correction for compensating the decrease in ISO speed with respect to the captured image. The image capturing apparatus is thereby capable of performing image capture with a dynamic range that takes into consideration the subject and the scene.

A white balance correction apparatus may include a dividing unit, a white evaluation unit, a white balance correction unit, and a camera orientation discrimination unit. The dividing unit divides an image into a plurality of divided areas. The white evaluation unit determines whether image data within every divided area is indicative of a color white according to white detection regions in a color temperature range defined based on a position of each divided area in the image. The white balance correction unit performs a white balance correction based upon image data determined to be indicative of the color white. The camera orientation discrimination unit discriminates orientation of a camera. In accordance with the discriminated orientation, the white evaluation unit changes a combination of position of each divided area and condition used.

White balance correction including indicative white color determination based on regions in a divided image

An image pick-up apparatus that enables to appropriately set a holding time in which there is a possibility of returning to a state that allows tracking when a subject cannot be tracked temporarily during the subject tracking to improve the ease-of-use for a user. A specifying unit specifies a subject included in a captured image. A display unit displays the captured image on a screen and displays identification information showing that the specified subject is tracked. A tracking unit tracks the subject. A setting unit sets a holding time in which the display of the identification information is held according to at least one of a focal length of the image pick-up apparatus and a subject distance. An elimination unit eliminates a display of the identification information when the holding time has passed after the tracking unit lost the subject.

Image pick-up apparatus and tracking method therefor

An imaging apparatus includes a light metering unit, a setting unit configured to set an exposure condition including exposure time and an aperture value at a time of flash photography based on a result of light metering by the light metering unit, and a first calculation unit configured to calculate an amount of light emission by a light emission unit to perform flash photography under the set exposure condition based on the result of light metering, wherein, when a first amount of light emission to perform flash photography under a first exposure condition is larger than a maximum amount of light emission that can be achieved by the light emission unit, the setting unit sets a second exposure condition having shorter exposure time and a smaller aperture value than the first exposure condition, and the first calculation unit calculates a second amount of light emission smaller than the maximum amount of light emission.

Imaging apparatus and control method therefor

In a signal processing apparatus for processing an image signal, a hue difference between adjoining pixels is detected by a color image edge detector, and an aperture control main gain circuit amplifies a luminance signal using a gain determined on the basis of the hue difference detected by the color image edge detector to enhance an edge pixel of an image.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Takaaki Fukui