Sony Corporation

Toru Wakagi

Atsushi Kobayashi

Nobuyuki Matsushita

Tatsuya Deguchi

Toshifumi Takaoka

Osamu Yagi

Makiko Baba

A dynamic range is widened by effectively using an output range that is originally possessed by a solid-state image-capturing device, and an image having less color hue rotation is obtained. By using the fact that the margin until the amount of saturation electric charge is reached becomes large as a result of the amount of exposure being set to be low in a high sensitivity mode, an RGB signal having a wide dynamic range containing signal components of a subject on the high-luminance side is obtained. First, &#x3b3; correction close to a power &#x3b3; is performed and thereafter, the signal is color-space-converted into a luminance signal and color-difference signals. A non-linear compression process is performed on the luminance signal so as to be fit into predetermined gradations, and for the color-difference signals, color rotation is reduced using a power gamma and color-difference matrix clipping is performed.

Image signal processing device and image signal processing method

An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup optical system having an optical axis and configured to form a subject image, an image pickup element configured to pick up the subject image and output the picked-up subject image as an image, an optical axis controller configured to displace an optical axis position relative to the image pickup element every time image capturing is performed, an image addition processor configured to correct positional displacement between a plurality of images output from the image pickup element and add the resulting images together, and an operation unit.

Image pickup apparatus for reducing fixed pattern noise

A carrier level balancing circuit in which a color aliasing signal occurring when a cameraman takes a picture of an object of an achromatic (black and white) color can be canceled completely. In a carrier level balancing circuit for a color camera formed of a CCD solid state image pickup device of an all pixel separately read out system, two-channel color signals output from the CCD solid state image pickup device are multiplied with independent balance coefficients at every line by multipliers while the balance coefficients are switched in a dot-sequential fashion. Also, values of these balance coefficients are set by a coefficient setting circuit in response to color temperature information. Thus, the carrier levels can be balanced over a range of color temperatures.

Carrier level balancing circuit for color camera

A solid-state image pickup apparatus of the type from which signal charge can be read out for two lines at a time, wherein the amount of smear is made equal at locations above and below a point light source on a screen and a correcting circuit for such smear amount can be constructed in a simplified structure. In the solid-state image pickup apparatus, in a first field, a vertical transferring section is driven, immediately after signal charge has been read out from light sensitive sections, to transfer the signal charge by a two stage distance. But in a second field, immediately before reading of signal charge from the light sensitive sections, the vertical transferring section is driven to effect transfer by a one stage distance and then driven, immediately after such reading of signal charge, to effect transfer by another one stage distance, whereafter it is driven to effect transfer by a two stage distance upon each transferring operation.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Toru Wakagi