JP2006080844A - Electronic camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic camera capable of providing a sufficient panning effect without imposing a large burden on a user after photographing and regardless of an exposure condition for photographing time. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic camera has an imaging part for generating a plurality of pieces of image data by consecutive photographing, a movement detecting part and a panning effect imparting part. The movement detecting part uses at least any of the image data as a comparison target to thereby acquire movement information of an object in an image shown by image data later than the image data of the comparison target in photographing time. The panning effect imparting part distinguishes a main object from a background in the image shown by the image data and applies image processing for increasing a blurring amount of the background to the image data to thereby generate corrected image data. Thus, an image with a panning effect can be automatically produced regardless of the exposure condition for photographing time and without requesting operations of the user after photographing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic camera, and more particularly to panning.

  When panning is performed using an electronic camera, the photographer usually shoots while shaking the electronic camera in accordance with the direction in which the main subject is moving. By doing so, in a portion other than the main subject in the captured image, the difference between adjacent pixels in the direction in which the electronic camera is shaken is reduced, and a lively feeling of the main subject can be produced (hereinafter referred to as a panning effect). The shutter speed at the time of panning is usually made slower than that at the time of general shooting in order to bring out a lively feeling. The appropriate shutter speed in practice varies depending on the motion speed of the main subject. Therefore, it is not easy for an unskilled user to set so as to obtain a sufficient panning effect.

Therefore, Patent Document 1 automatically sets a shutter speed T at which a sufficient panning effect is obtained. Specifically, the flow velocity V of the background on the film surface is obtained from the product of the angular velocity of the camera detected by the sensor and the focal length. A value obtained by dividing “desired background flow amount L” by “background flow velocity V” is defined as “shutter speed T”. In this case, the flow amount of the background with respect to the main subject is constant, so that a constant panning effect is always obtained.
JP-A-5-232562

The invention of Patent Document 1 has excellent operational effects as described above. However, in actual panning shooting, there may be a case where exposure conditions such as shutter speed are restricted. For example, the shutter speed cannot be sufficiently slow because the surroundings are bright. Therefore, a method for obtaining a sufficient panning effect regardless of the exposure condition at the time of photographing has been desired.
There is also a method for obtaining a panning effect by performing image processing on a captured image by the user himself / herself after shooting. This method requires the work of separating the main subject and the background in the captured image and the work of reducing the difference between adjacent pixels only in the background. Such work is not always easy for an unskilled user, and the work load is large.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic camera capable of obtaining a sufficient panning effect without imposing a heavy burden on the user after shooting and irrespective of the exposure conditions during shooting.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, an electronic camera includes an imaging unit, a motion detection unit, and a panning effect applying unit. The imaging unit generates a plurality of image data by continuous shooting. The motion detection unit uses at least one of the image data as a comparison target, thereby acquiring the motion information of the subject in the image indicated by the image data whose shooting time is later than the image data to be compared. The panning effect adding unit determines the main subject and the background in the image indicated by the image data based on the motion information, and performs image processing for increasing the amount of background blur to generate the corrected image data. To do.

The invention of claim 2 is the electronic camera of claim 1, characterized by the following points. That is, when acquiring the motion information, the motion detection unit compares the image data with the acquisition time closest to the acquisition target image data from the image data having the same shooting time as that of the acquisition target image data and the same number of pixels. The selected image data is compared with the image data to be acquired.
The invention of claim 3 is the electronic camera of claim 1, characterized by the following points. That is, when acquiring the motion information, the motion detection unit compares a plurality of pieces of image data whose shooting time is before the acquisition target image data.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic camera comprising a photometry unit, an imaging unit, a motion detection unit, and a panning effect applying unit. The photometry unit generates an image signal for setting an exposure condition at the time of shooting. The imaging unit images a subject and generates image data. The motion detection unit acquires motion information of the subject in the image indicated by the image data based on the image indicated by the image signal. The panning effect adding unit determines the main subject and the background in the image indicated by the image data based on the motion information, and performs image processing for increasing the amount of background blur to generate the corrected image data. To do.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic camera according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the panning effect imparting unit includes the image so that the amount of background blur increases as the amount of motion indicated by the motion information increases. It is characterized by processing.
The invention according to claim 6 is the electronic camera according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by the following points. First, the image processing is to reduce a difference between pixels adjacent in a specific direction. Second, the panning effect applying unit matches the specific direction with the moving direction of the subject indicated by the motion information.

  The invention according to claim 7 is the electronic camera according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized by the following points. First, a camera shake detection unit that detects camera shake of the electronic camera at the time of shooting is provided. Second, the panning effect imparting unit corrects the motion information based on the detected camera shake, and generates corrected image data based on the corrected motion information.

  In one aspect of the present invention, the motion detection unit uses at least one of image data generated by continuous shooting as a comparison target, and acquires motion information for image data whose shooting time is later than the comparison target image data. To do. Then, the panning effect imparting unit determines the main subject and the background based on the motion information, and performs image processing for increasing the amount of background blur. Therefore, an image having a panning effect can be automatically created regardless of the exposure conditions at the time of shooting and without requiring the user to perform an operation after shooting.

  In another aspect of the present invention, the motion detection unit acquires motion information for the image data generated by the imaging unit based on an image indicated by the image signal generated for setting the exposure condition by the photometry unit. . Since the image processing for increasing the amount of background blur is performed in the same manner as described above, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the electronic camera 8 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The first embodiment corresponds to claims 1, 2, and 5 to 7. As shown in the figure, the electronic camera 8 includes a photographing lens 12, a shutter 16, an image sensor 20, an analog signal processing unit 24, an image A / D conversion unit 26, and a condition setting A / D conversion unit. 28, focus detection unit 30, timing generator 32, shutter drive unit 36, MPU (Micro Processor Unit) 40, angular velocity detection unit 44, operation unit 46, system bus 48, image processing unit 52, , A memory 56, a recording unit 64, a replaceable recording medium 68, a monitor control unit 72, and a liquid crystal monitor 76. In place of the shutter 16, a so-called electronic shutter that changes the charge accumulation time by driving control of the image sensor 20 may be used, or both may be used in combination.

  The MPU 40 performs system control of the electronic camera 8. The photographic lens 12 includes a lens group 82, an encoder 84 that detects the position of the moved lens, a diaphragm 86 that adjusts the amount of transmitted light, a drive motor 88 that drives the lens group 82 and the diaphragm 86, and a lens CPU 90. is doing. The lens group 82 includes a focusing lens for focusing, a zoom lens movable for adjusting the angle of view, and a camera shake correction lens.

  The operation unit 46 includes a group of buttons for setting exposure conditions, shooting modes, and the like, a release button, a power button, and the like (not shown). During continuous shooting, the image sensor 20 repeatedly accumulates and discharges charges at a constant time interval (frame rate) and continuously outputs pixel signals for one image. The main feature of this embodiment is that a motion vector is calculated for each image captured for a still image, and the electronic camera 8 automatically applies a panning effect to the image for which the motion vector is calculated by image processing. It is to give to. Hereinafter, this motion vector will be described.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the timing of exposure of the image sensor 20 and showing at which time point the motion vector is calculated using the image taken. At the time (t0, t3, t6, t9) when the scale with respect to the time axis is indicated by a thick line, the pixel signals of all effective pixels are read, and the image data for the still image is read from the image A / D converter 26. Is output. At time (t1, t2, t4, t5, t7, t8, t10) indicated by thin lines on the time axis, image data is generated by thinning-out readout, and this image data is used for focus control and setting of exposure conditions. Used. The shooting intervals from t0 to t10 are all the same, and this interval corresponds to the frame rate of the image sensor 20.

  In the first embodiment, a motion vector is calculated as compared with the image data read out for a still image that has the shooting time immediately before. For example, the image captured at time t3 is compared with the image captured at time t6 to calculate a motion vector for the image captured at time t6. In FIG. 2, after reading out one image for a still image, two images are thinned out and read out. However, this is an example, and the continuous shooting interval (image pickup interval for still images) is arbitrarily set. Is possible.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a motion vector calculation method and image processing for providing a panning effect. FIG. 3A is a still image image taken at time t3 in FIG. 2, and in this example, the runner shown in the center of the image is the main subject. FIG. 3B is a still image image taken at time t6 in FIG. For simplification of explanation, the operation of shaking the electronic camera 8 in the traveling direction of the main subject is appropriately performed during continuous shooting, and the position of the main subject in each image generated by continuous shooting is almost unchanged. And It is also assumed that the shutter speed is fast and the panning effect is not sufficient in the original image as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b).

  In this embodiment, as an example, a motion vector is calculated by a known block matching method. In order to do this, first, an image for which a motion vector is to be calculated is divided into a number of blocks. As for the size of each block, for example, the number of pixels in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction is 4 to 16. Then, an image region having the smallest difference from each block that is a motion vector calculation target (the same size as the block in the vertical and horizontal directions) is extracted from each comparison target image. Here, “the difference is small” means that there is almost no change when colors are compared between pixels in a block, for example.

Next, the motion vector is determined by comparing the position in the image between each block to be calculated and the image region extracted for the block. That is, a vector starting from the position in the image of the extracted image area and ending in the position in the image of the block to be calculated is set as a motion vector.
FIG. 3C is a diagram focusing on an arbitrary block in the image (FIG. 3B) taken at time t6. FIG. 3D shows an image region having the smallest difference from the block in FIG. 3C in the image taken at time t3 (FIG. 3A). Then, by comparing FIG. 3C and FIG. 3D, the motion vector for the block of FIG. 3C becomes as indicated by the arrow in FIG.

  As can be seen from the figure, the main subject in this example is considered to be moving rightward in the horizontal direction, but the direction of the motion vector is opposite to the traveling direction of the main subject. In addition, the size of the motion vector (scalar amount, corresponding to the length of the arrow in FIG. 3C) is small in the block corresponding to the main subject, and the size of the motion vector in the portion (background) other than the main subject. Will grow. That is, the magnitude of the motion vector indicates the moving amount (or moving speed) of the subject. In the present embodiment, it is determined which region in the image corresponds to the main subject based on the difference in the magnitude of the motion vector, and a panning effect is given to the background.

  Next, image processing for giving a panning effect will be described. In this embodiment, as an example, the image processing is performed by a moving average filter. Specifically, the pixel value of a certain pixel is averaged with the pixel value of a pixel adjacent in the direction of the motion vector. FIG. 3E shows a processing method in the case where the direction indicated by the motion vector is horizontally rightward and a 5-point moving average filter is used. The pixel values of the pixels filled in black in the figure are averaged with the pixel values of four pixels (pixels indicated by hatching in the figure) located on the right side in the horizontal direction.

  In the present embodiment, such a process is performed on all pixels recognized as the background to give a panning effect. Actually, the direction of the motion vector, that is, the direction in which the photographer shakes the electronic camera 8 during panning is not always the horizontal direction or the vertical direction. Accordingly, regardless of the direction of the motion vector, the direction in which the moving average is performed (the direction in which a plurality of pixels used for averaging in the moving average are connected) is matched to the direction of the motion vector.

  Then, as the size of the motion vector is larger, the average number of pixels is increased to increase the panning effect. This is because the magnitude of the motion vector is proportional to the speed at which the camera is shaken at the time of shooting, that is, the traveling speed of the main subject, so it is natural to increase the panning effect as the main subject moves faster. . FIG. 3F is an example of a modified image in which the moving average filter is applied only to the background of the image taken at time t6 (FIG. 3B).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic camera 8. The operation of the electronic camera 8 will be described below according to the step numbers shown in the figure.
[Step S1] When the power button of the electronic camera 8 is turned on, a power-on process is performed. Thereafter, the user operates the button group of the operation unit 46 to set an exposure condition, a shooting mode, and the like. Here, it is assumed that the electronic camera 8 is set to a shooting mode for panning. In practice, other known shooting modes may be set, but they are not relevant to the present application, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  [Step S2] The image pickup device 20 repeats accumulation and discharge of charges after exposure, and continuously outputs image signals at a predetermined frame rate. These image signals are subjected to clamp processing and sensitivity correction processing by the analog signal processing unit 24, and then continuously input to the image A / D conversion unit 26 and the condition setting A / D conversion unit 28. The image A / D converter 26 continuously generates moving image data by A / D conversion. The image data is subjected to color process processing or the like by the image processing unit 52 and then displayed as a moving image on the liquid crystal monitor 76. The moving image display is continued until the release button is fully pressed.

  The condition setting A / D converter 28 A / D converts the input image signal to generate image data with the number of pixels thinned out, and sequentially inputs the image data to the focus detection unit 30 and the MPU 40. The MPU 40 sets exposure conditions and the like based on the image data, and the focus detection unit 30 obtains a contrast value from the image data and transmits it to the MPU 40. The MPU 40 and the lens CPU 90 perform focus control of the photographing lens 12 so that the contrast value becomes maximum.

  [Step S3] When the release button is fully pressed, known continuous shooting is performed under the set exposure conditions, and image data for a still image is converted to the image A / It is output from the D converter 26. The image data is subjected to white balance adjustment and color interpolation processing by the image processing unit 52 and then stored in the memory 56. If the continuous shooting interval is set to be longer than the frame rate of the image sensor 20, as shown in FIG. 2, the condition setting A / D conversion unit 28 determines the shooting interval of the still image. The thinned and read image data is output.

  At the same time, the angular velocity detection unit 44 detects a shake (hand shake) of the electronic camera 8 in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction as an angular velocity, and inputs it to the MPU 40. Note that the camera shake in this specification includes both a case where the electronic camera 8 shakes at the moment of shooting contrary to the intention of the photographer and a case where the photographer intentionally shakes the electronic camera 8 during the panning. Shall be included. In the present embodiment, panning shot photography is assumed. Therefore, the angular velocity here mainly indicates the latter, and it is detected in which direction and how fast the electronic camera 8 is swung. The horizontal direction and the vertical direction here are orthogonal to each other and parallel to the light receiving surface of the image sensor 20.

[Step S4] The MPU 40 determines at any time whether or not the release button is released. If not canceled, continuous shooting is continued. If canceled, the process proceeds to step S5.
[Step S5] The MPU 40 ends the continuous shooting in synchronization with the release of the release button.
[Step S6] The MPU 40 reads out still image data stored in the memory 56, and calculates a motion vector for each block for each read out by the above-described procedure.

  Note that the image data to be compared when calculating the motion vector is the image data for the still image that has the most recent shooting time. There is no image data for the image. Therefore, the image captured at the beginning of the continuous shooting is compared with the image data for the through image captured before the start of the continuous shooting and at the end. At that time, the resolution (number of pixels) is reduced so that the image data taken at the beginning of the continuous shooting has the same number of pixels as those to be compared. The motion vector is temporarily stored in the memory 56 as digital data for each block, divided into a moving direction and a moving amount.

  [Step S7] The MPU 40 determines, for each image data for still images, a block showing the main subject and a block showing the rest (background). Specifically, for example, a block having a motion vector magnitude of a predetermined value or less is set as a main subject block. The predetermined value here may be determined based on the average value of the motion vectors of all blocks, for example.

  Next, the MPU 40 corrects the motion vector of the block corresponding to the background based on the two-direction angular velocities detected by the angular velocity detection unit 44 during continuous shooting. That is, it is considered that the direction of the motion vector of each block corresponding to the background is essentially the same as the direction in which the photographer shakes the electronic camera 8 during the continuous shooting period. However, in actuality, it is considered that depending on various causes, such as the main subject obstructing a part of the light source during movement, the direction of both may differ greatly. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is corrected.

  Specifically, the direction given by the angular velocity in the two directions is referred to as “panning direction”. Then, the panning direction is compared with the direction indicated by the motion vector of each block of the background, and the motion vector data is deleted for a greatly different block. Alternatively, a motion vector that is significantly different from the panning direction may be corrected to an average of motion vectors of several blocks around it.

  [Step S8] The image processing unit 52 applies the moving average as described above to only the background block on the image data for the still image generated by the continuous shooting according to the instruction of the MPU 40, thereby correcting the corrected image data. Create Here, the direction in which the moving average is applied may be, for example, the average of the motion vector directions of all blocks in the background or the direction with the highest frequency. In addition, as the motion vector size (average value) of the background block is larger, the number of pixels used for the average in the moving average is increased.

[Step S9] The corrected image data is subjected to gamma correction, contour enhancement, compression, and the like by the image processing unit 52, and then recorded on the recording medium 68 through the recording unit 64. In addition to the corrected image data, the image data for the still image before correction may be recorded together. The above is the description of the operation of the present embodiment.
As described above, in the first embodiment, immediately after continuous shooting, a motion vector is obtained for each block of image data for still images, and the main subject and the background are determined based on the difference in the magnitude of the motion vector. Is determined. Then, based on the motion vector, a moving average is applied to the background block to give a panning effect. Therefore, even if the shutter speed cannot be sufficiently slow, that is, regardless of the exposure conditions, and without requiring user operation after shooting, an image having a panning effect can be automatically created.

The direction in which the moving average is applied is aligned with the direction of the motion vector, and the larger the size of the motion vector, the larger the number of pixels used for the average in the moving average. Therefore, an image with a feeling of movement matching the traveling direction and traveling speed of the main subject can be obtained.
Furthermore, motion vectors whose directions are significantly different from those of the panning direction given by the angular velocity detected by the angular velocity detection unit 44 are deleted or corrected. For this reason, even if the direction of the motion vector of some blocks differs greatly from the panning direction due to various causes, the motion vector of such a block is not reflected in the determination of the moving average direction. Therefore, the moving average direction is different from the direction in which the electronic camera 8 is shaken at the time of shooting, and there is no sense of incongruity.

Hereinafter, supplementary items of the first embodiment will be described.
In the first embodiment, the example in which the moving average is performed only on the background block has been described, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. A moving average that is weaker than the background may be applied to the main subject to further produce a sense of speed (the same applies to the third embodiment described later).
In addition, an example has been described in which a motion vector is calculated by comparison with one image data whose shooting time is before. The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. The motion vector may be calculated by comparing the image data to be calculated with a plurality of image data with the shooting time before (the same applies to the second embodiment described later).

  In addition, an example has been described in which a motion vector is calculated by comparing the image data for still images with the latest shooting time. The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, in FIG. 2, the motion vector for the still image data at time t6 may be calculated by comparing two image data read out at times t4 and t5 (second implementation described later). The same applies to the form). That is, the motion vector may be obtained by comparing two image data before the image data to be calculated. In this case, the first embodiment corresponds to claim 1, claim 3, and claim 5 to claim 7.

  Alternatively, the motion vector may be calculated in comparison with the image data immediately before the shooting time regardless of whether the image data is read out for a still image or the image data that has been thinned out. The same applies to the second embodiment). That is, in FIG. 2, the motion vector for the image data at time t6 is obtained by comparison with the image data at time t5 (those with the number of pixels thinned out). In this case, it is necessary to convert the image data at time t6 to a low resolution so as to have the same number of pixels as the image data at time t5.

  In the first embodiment, the example in which the main subject and the background are determined based on the motion vector has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, the liquid crystal monitor 76 may be a touch panel type, and the user may select a main subject on the liquid crystal monitor 76 when a live view is displayed before the release. That is, the outline and color of the area touched on the liquid crystal monitor 76 are memorized as the main subject in an image. Then, after determining the block of the main subject in the image data based on the stored image, and further calculating the motion vector, a moving average may be applied according to the direction and size of the motion vector.

  Note that the processing in steps S6 to S9 in FIG. 4 may be performed by an editing apparatus such as a personal computer. In this case, a program for executing steps S6 to S9 is installed in the editing apparatus, and the processes of steps S6 to S9 are executed on the input image data. At this time, the angular velocity information detected by the angular velocity detector 44 is input to the editing apparatus as necessary.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The main difference from the first embodiment is that the modified image data is not created in the second embodiment, and the original image data and the motion vector obtained for the original image data are recorded as one file. is there. Therefore, since the configuration of the electronic camera is the same as that of the first embodiment, a duplicate description such as a block diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 is omitted.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic camera 8 in the second embodiment, and the processes in steps S21 to S27 in the figure are the same as steps S1 to S7 in the first embodiment, respectively. Therefore, only step S28 will be described.
[Step S28] The image processing unit 52 performs gamma correction, contour enhancement, compression, and the like on all image data for still images generated by continuous shooting. Thereafter, the recording unit 64 creates one file including the image data for the still image and the motion vectors of all the blocks calculated for the image data in accordance with the command from the MPU 40.

  What is necessary is just to include the motion vector of each block in the header of a file, for example. Here, the information indicated by the motion vector is a movement direction and a movement amount. Therefore, a file is created by associating the position of the block, the moving direction indicated by the motion vector of the block, and the moving amount. Note that the motion vector to be recorded is after the correction in step S27 and does not necessarily exist for all blocks. The recording unit 64 creates such files for all image data for still images and records them on the recording medium 68. That is, the recording unit 64 functions as a file generation unit that generates one file including the motion vector and the image data for the still image that is the calculation target.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, each image data generated by continuous shooting is recorded as one file to which a motion vector for each block is attached. Therefore, after transferring the file to an image processing apparatus such as a computer via the recording medium 68, an image having a panning effect can be obtained by performing appropriate image processing. Therefore, if a panning effect is applied to the captured image by subsequent image processing, an image having a panning effect can be obtained regardless of the exposure conditions at the time of shooting.

  Then, since the image processing for giving the panning effect can be easily performed based on the motion vector, it does not take time and effort. This is because, for example, as in the first embodiment, a block whose motion vector size is a predetermined value or more is regarded as a background, and a moving average is simply applied to the background block in the direction of the most frequent motion vector. Because it is good. That is, conventionally, when the panning effect is provided by image processing after shooting, there is no movement information of the subject in the image, which is troublesome. However, in the second embodiment, there is movement information. However, a large processing load is not required for the user.

Furthermore, since the original image data before applying the panning effect is recorded and left, it is possible to appropriately create correction image data according to the application such as a correction image having a large panning effect and a correction image having a small panning effect.
In the second embodiment, the file created in step S28 is recorded on the recording medium 68. However, the file may not be recorded on the recording medium 68. In this case, for example, after the created file is wirelessly transmitted to a computer remote from the electronic camera 8, image processing for giving a panning effect is performed in the computer, and corrected image data may be created (fourth described later). The same applies to the embodiment).

  Furthermore, it is possible to apply both the first and second embodiments. That is, in step S9 of the first embodiment, one file in which a motion vector is attached to image data before correction is created by the procedure described in step S28. Then, both the file in which the motion vector is attached to the image data before correction and the file of the corrected image data are recorded. In this case, the effects of both the first and second embodiments can be obtained.

  Note that the processing in steps S26 to S28 in FIG. 5 may be performed by an editing apparatus such as a personal computer. In this case, the editing apparatus is installed with a program for executing steps S26 to S28, and the processes of steps S26 to S28 are executed on the input image data. At this time, the angular velocity information detected by the angular velocity detector 44 is input to the editing apparatus as necessary.

<Third Embodiment>
Next, a third embodiment corresponding to claims 4 to 7 will be described. The first and second embodiments have been described assuming continuous shooting with a compact type electronic camera, but the third embodiment will be described assuming single shooting with a single-lens reflex type electronic camera. . In the third embodiment, since there is an observation optical system including a pentaprism, a finder, and the like, a through image display is not performed, and a motion vector is calculated based on the output of the photometry unit. Elements having substantially the same functions as those described in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an electronic camera according to the third embodiment. As shown in the drawing, the electronic camera 100 includes a photographing lens 12, an observation optical system 120, a quick return mirror 124, a shutter 16, an image sensor 20, an analog signal processing unit 24, and an A / D conversion unit 128. Timing generator 32, system bus 48, MPU 136, shutter drive unit 36, focus detection unit 140, photometry unit 144, color measurement unit 148, angular velocity detection unit 44, operation unit 46, image A processing unit 52, a memory 56, a recording unit 64, a recording medium 68, a monitor control unit 72, and a liquid crystal monitor 76 are provided.

  The taking lens 12 includes a lens group 82, an encoder 84, a diaphragm 86, a drive motor 88, and a lens CPU 90. The photometry unit 144 has, for example, 1000 or more photometry elements arranged in a lattice pattern, and inputs image signals generated by the photometry elements by photoelectric conversion to the MPU 136. In addition, on the light receiving surface of each photometric element, any one of the three primary colors is arranged in a Bayer array, for example. Therefore, color image data can be generated based on the image signal output from the photometric element. The MPU 136 performs system control of the electronic camera 100.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic camera 100 of the third embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of the electronic camera 100 of the third embodiment will be described according to the step numbers in the figure. In the third embodiment, it is assumed that the photographer performs panning.
[Step S41] The same processing as step S1 of the first embodiment is performed.
[Step S42] Each photometric element of the photometric unit 144 is exposed, repeatedly accumulates and discharges charges at a constant time interval, and continuously outputs image signals. This image signal is subjected to color interpolation and the like and then converted into color image data. The MPU 136 sets exposure conditions based on the color image data.

  The color measurement unit 148 detects the color temperature of the photographing light source and transmits it to the MPU 136. The MPU 136 determines white balance adjustment conditions based on this color temperature. Further, the focus detection unit 140, the MPU 136, the lens CPU 90, and the drive motor 88 focus on the subject in the selected focus area by a known phase difference type focus detection operation.

  [Step S43] When the release button is fully pressed, the image sensor 20 is exposed under the set exposure conditions in synchronization with the release button, and image data for a still image is output from the A / D converter 128 by a known operation. Is done. At this time, the photometry unit 144 continuously generates an image signal and inputs it to the MPU 136. The still image data is subjected to white balance adjustment and color interpolation processing by the image processing unit 52 and then stored in the memory 56. Further, before and after the release button is fully pressed, the angular velocity detection unit 44 detects the shake of the electronic camera 100 in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction as the angular velocity, and inputs it to the MPU 136.

  [Step S44] The MPU 136 calculates a motion vector for each block for the image data for still images by comparing a plurality of image data obtained from the image signal from the photometry unit 144. Here, when calculating the motion vector, for example, an image signal generated at the following timing may be used. The image signal output from the photometry unit 144 when the photometry element is exposed at the same time as the exposure of the image sensor 20 and the image signal output from the photometry unit 144 immediately before are used. Alternatively, two image signals output from the photometry unit 144 when the photometry element is exposed immediately before the exposure of the image sensor 20 are used.

  [Step S45] The MPU 136 determines, in the image data for still images, a block showing the main subject and a block showing the background. This determination is performed based on the motion vector as in the first embodiment. Then, the MPU 136 corrects the motion vector of the block corresponding to the background in the same manner as in the first embodiment, based on the two-direction angular velocities detected by the angular velocity detection unit 44.

[Step S46] The image processing unit 52 performs correction averaging on the background blocks in the same manner as in the first embodiment in accordance with an instruction from the MPU 136 to create corrected image data.
[Step S47] The corrected image data is subjected to gamma correction, contour enhancement, compression, and the like by the image processing unit 52, and then recorded on the recording medium 68 via the recording unit 64. In addition to the corrected image data, the image data for the still image before correction may be recorded together. The above is the description of the operation of the third embodiment. As described above, in the third embodiment, the motion vector is calculated based on the image data obtained from the output of the photometry unit 144 instead of the image data generated by the exposure of the image sensor 20, Similar effects can be obtained.

<Fourth Embodiment>
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. The main difference from the third embodiment is that the modified image data is not created in the fourth embodiment, and the original image data and the motion vector obtained for it are recorded as one file. is there. Therefore, since the configuration of the electronic camera is the same as that of the third embodiment, a duplicate description of a block diagram corresponding to FIG. 6 is omitted.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic camera of the fourth embodiment, and the processes in steps S61 to S65 in the figure are the same as steps S41 to S45 of the third embodiment, respectively. Therefore, only step S66 will be described.
[Step S66] The image processing unit 52 performs gamma correction, contour enhancement, compression, and the like on the image data for the still image. Thereafter, the recording unit 64, in accordance with an instruction from the MPU 136, includes one file containing image data for still images (not corrected by moving average) and motion vectors of all blocks calculated for the image data. Create The file creation method here is the same as step S28 in the second embodiment. Thus, in the fourth embodiment, the motion vector is calculated based on the image data obtained from the output of the photometry unit 144, but the same effect as in the second embodiment can be obtained.

  As in the first and second embodiments, both the third and fourth embodiments can be applied. That is, in step S47 of the third embodiment, a file in which a motion vector is attached to image data before correction is created in the same manner as in step S66. Then, both the file in which the motion vector is attached to the image data before correction and the file of the corrected image data are recorded.

<Supplementary items of the present invention>
The first and second embodiments have been described as continuous shooting with the compact electronic camera 8, but can be executed as single shooting as in the third and fourth embodiments. Further, although the third and fourth embodiments have been described as single shooting with the single-lens reflex type electronic camera 100, they can also be executed as continuous shooting as in the first and second embodiments. In addition, the “technical idea for calculating a motion vector and automatically adding a panning effect to a captured image based on it” and “technical idea for creating a file with a motion vector attached” disclosed above are The present invention can also be applied to shooting modes other than shooting.

The correspondence between the claims and the embodiment is, for example, as follows.
The imaging unit described in the claims includes the shutter 16, the imaging device 20, the analog signal processing unit 24, the image A / D conversion unit 26 (or A / D conversion unit 128), the timing generator 32, and the shutter driving unit 36. This corresponds to the function of the MPU 40 (136) for generating image data.

The motion information described in the claims corresponds to the motion vector.
The motion detector described in the claims corresponds to the function of the MPU 40 (136) for calculating a motion vector.
The panning effect imparting unit according to the claims includes a function of the MPU 40 (136) that discriminates a background block and a main subject block based on a motion vector, and a function of the image processing unit 52 that performs a moving average on the background block. And corresponding.

  The shake detection unit described in the claims corresponds to the function of the angular velocity detection unit 44 that detects the shake of the electronic camera 8 (100) at the time of shooting as the angular velocity in two directions.

  As described above in detail, the present invention can be used greatly in the field of electronic cameras.

It is a block diagram of the electronic camera in the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the timing of exposure of an image pick-up element, and shows which motion vector is calculated using the image image | photographed at which time. It is explanatory drawing of the calculation method of a motion vector, and the method of providing a panning effect. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the electronic camera in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the electronic camera in 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram of the electronic camera in the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the electronic camera in 3rd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the electronic camera in 4th Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

8 Electronic Camera 12 Shooting Lens 16 Shutter 20 Image Sensor 24 Analog Signal Processing Unit 26 Image A / D Conversion Unit 28 Condition Setting A / D Conversion Unit 30 Focus Detection Unit 32 Timing Generator 36 Shutter Drive Unit 40 MPU
44 Angular velocity detection unit 46 Operation unit 48 System bus 52 Image processing unit 56 Memory 64 Recording unit 68 Recording medium 72 Monitor control unit 76 Liquid crystal monitor 82 Lens group 84 Encoder 86 Aperture 88 Drive motor 90 Lens CPU
100 Electronic Camera 120 Observation Optical System 124 Quick Return Mirror 128 A / D Converter 136 MPU
140 Focus detection unit 144 Photometry unit 148 Color measurement unit

Claims (7)

An imaging unit that generates a plurality of image data by continuous shooting;
Using at least one of the image data as a comparison target, a motion detection unit that acquires motion information of a subject in an image indicated by the image data whose shooting time is later than the image data to be compared;
Based on the motion information, the main subject and the background in the image indicated by the image data are discriminated, and image processing for increasing the amount of background blur is performed on the image data, thereby producing a panning effect that generates corrected image data An electronic camera comprising: an attaching unit. The electronic camera according to claim 1.
When acquiring the motion information, the motion detection unit obtains the image data and the shooting time of the acquisition target most from the image data having the same shooting time and the same number of pixels as the image data of the acquisition target. An electronic camera characterized by selecting a close one and comparing the selected image data with the image data to be acquired. The electronic camera according to claim 1.
When acquiring the motion information, the motion detection unit compares the plurality of image data whose shooting time is earlier than the image data to be acquired. A metering unit that generates an image signal for setting exposure conditions during shooting;
An imaging unit that images a subject and generates image data;
A motion detector that acquires motion information of the subject in the image indicated by the image data based on an image indicated by the image signal;
Based on the motion information, the main subject and the background in the image indicated by the image data are discriminated, and image processing for increasing the amount of background blur is performed on the image data, thereby producing a panning effect that generates corrected image data An electronic camera comprising: an attaching unit. The electronic camera according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The electronic camera, wherein the panning effect imparting unit performs the image processing such that the amount of background blur increases as the amount of motion indicated by the motion information increases. The electronic camera according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The image processing is to reduce a difference between pixels adjacent in a specific direction,
The electronic camera, wherein the panning effect imparting unit matches the specific direction with a moving direction of a subject indicated by the motion information. The electronic camera according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
A camera shake detection unit that detects the camera shake of the electronic camera at the time of shooting,
The electronic camera, wherein the panning effect imparting unit corrects the motion information based on the detected camera shake and generates the corrected image data based on the corrected motion information.

Images