JP2001305642A - Imaging pickup unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and precisely perform photographing by voice input in the case that an object is a photographer himself. SOLUTION: When a voice registration mode is set by a mode dial 20, a first voice pattern at the time of focus adjustment and a second voice pattern at the time of release operation are registered in accordance with voice inputted by a microphone 16, and when a voice photographing mode is set, voice recognition processing for the voice inputted by the microphone 16 is performed, and when the voice corresponding to the first voice pattern is recognized, the focus adjustment is performed, and when the voice corresponding to the second voice pattern is recognized, release control is performed after specified waiting time passes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an imaging device,
In particular, the present invention relates to an imaging apparatus suitable for application to a camera or a digital camera using a silver halide film whose imaging operation is controlled by electronic control, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an imaging apparatus such as a single-lens reflex camera, a compact camera or an electronic still camera is multifunctional, and a microcomputer or the like is used as a control unit for controlling these various functions. High-precision computerized ones have been developed. In recent years, advances in voice recognition technology have been made, and various devices or devices that can control the operation of each unit by voice input have been developed.

[0003] Conventionally, as an image pickup apparatus to which the above-described speech recognition technology is applied, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-56428,
Cameras described in JP-A-7-84302 or JP-A-7-84311 have been proposed. Basically, these imaging devices are various types of devices necessary for shooting operations such as an exposure mode of a camera in a posture where an operator faces a viewfinder of a camera, that is, in a situation where a photographer holds a camera and faces a subject. The functions are controlled by voice input to improve the operability and the quick shooting performance.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-56428 discloses a device in which a voice recognition device is detachably attached to a camera, and a device in which the voice recognition device is connected to a camera by communication means such as infrared, microwave, or ultrasonic waves. Or a device incorporating a voice recognition device in a camera. In particular, when the camera has a built-in voice recognition device or is detachable, a microphone for voice input is provided on the back side of the camera, and strobe, zoom, Exposure compensation or a self-timer, a photographing function such as continuous photographing or single-frame photographing, or a photographing operation is controlled. In the case where a voice recognition device is connected to a camera by a communication means, the same control as described above is remotely controlled based on voice input in which a plurality of cameras are recognized by the voice recognition device.

On the other hand, in the camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-84302, in order to reliably detect the photographer's voice, a vibration wave of the sound transmitted through the bones or skin of the photographer's face is detected around the finder. An earphone-type microphone that detects audio vibration transmitted from the photographer's ear is connected, and a microphone for audio input similar to that described in JP-A-64-56428 is connected to the camera body. Was provided on the back side. Thus, when the photographer speaks while holding the camera, the sound is detected by a vibration detection sensor, an earphone or a microphone, or a combination thereof to control various photographing functions or photographing operations. there were.

Further, in the camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-84311, a microphone for voice input is provided on the back side of the camera body, at the lower center and at one upper end thereof, depending on how the camera is held. It was to input voice. For example, when the camera is held in the normal horizontal position, voice is input from the microphone at the lower center of the back, and when the camera is held in the vertical position, voice is input from the microphone at one upper end, and the shooting function is performed. And controlling the photographing operation.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, the photographing function or the photographing operation is controlled by the photographer holding the camera, for example, by voice input from a microphone provided on the back side of the camera. Therefore, for example, when the photographer himself becomes a subject in a commemorative photographing or the like, there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to perform photographing by voice operation.

For example, a photographer looks into a finder with the camera fixed, sets a photographing function at a fixed place of the camera, such as focusing on the place where the photographer himself is to be photographed. After that, he has to go to the place where he is to be photographed and perform a release operation. In this case, among the shooting functions, the exposure and the like can be almost set by voice input at a fixed position of the camera, but if there is no target at the shooting position, whether the focus is on the actual shooting position There was a problem of not knowing whether or not. As for the release operation, it is conceivable to use a self-timer in combination and issue a voice command at a fixed location of the camera to go to the shooting location and then go to the shooting location. , The user has to approach the button, so that the normal button operation is more advantageous. Also, as a release operation, it is conceivable that the photographer attempts to shoot by speaking from the shooting location, but since the microphone for voice input is on the back side of the camera, whether the voice input is correctly recognized or not. There was a problem that it was not certain. In this case, even if the voice from the shooting location is recognized by the camera, the release operation is immediately performed at that time, so that the photographer shoots with the voice uttered, as expected. There was a problem that it was not possible to shoot with the expression and pose of the camera.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and to provide an image pickup apparatus capable of performing a photographing operation by voice input easily and accurately when a photographer himself becomes a subject. And

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to an image pickup apparatus for picking up a desired scene image incident through an optical system including a lens by a predetermined image pickup means. The apparatus includes a voice input unit for inputting voice from the incident direction of the scene image, a voice recognition unit for recognizing whether the voice input by the voice input unit includes a predetermined voice pattern, and a voice recognition unit. Means for counting a predetermined time when a predetermined voice pattern is recognized by the means; and a desired field from the optical system to the imaging means when the predetermined time has elapsed by the time counting means. Imaging control means for controlling an imaging operation of an image.

In this case, it is advantageous that the time setting means is preset with a desired set time, and the apparatus includes time adjusting means for variably adjusting the set time.

Further, the apparatus includes a voice registration unit in which a plurality of voice patterns are registered in advance, and a focus control unit for controlling an optical system to focus a subject image incident on the imaging unit, The voice recognition means activates the focus control means when the first voice pattern from the voice input means is recognized based on the first voice pattern registered in the voice registration means in advance. And when the second voice pattern from the voice input means is recognized based on the second voice pattern registered in advance in the voice registration means, the second voice recognition means for activating the timekeeping means. Features.

Further, the apparatus may include notifying means for notifying at least whether or not a predetermined voice pattern has been recognized by the voice recognizing means to the scene.

In this case, the notifying means includes a light emitting means attached to the front surface of the apparatus main body provided with the optical system, and a driving means for driving the light emitting means based on the recognition result of the voice recognizing means. When the voice recognition unit recognizes a predetermined voice pattern, the light-emitting unit flashes in a first flashing pattern. When the predetermined voice pattern cannot be recognized, the unit flashes in a second flashing pattern. Blinking is advantageous.

[0015]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an imaging apparatus according to the present invention. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the imaging apparatus according to the present invention. The image pickup apparatus according to the present embodiment is a camera that exposes a scene image incident through an optical system including a lens to a silver halide film and shoots the image. An electronic control camera that controls a photographing operation such as a function and a release operation by electronic control will be described as an example. In particular, the main feature of the imaging apparatus according to the present embodiment is that the imaging apparatus includes a voice recognition / photographing function of performing a photographing operation by voice input when the photographer himself becomes a subject. In FIGS. 1 and 2, portions not directly related to the present invention are not shown, and the description thereof is omitted below.

In detail, the external structure of the image pickup apparatus according to the present embodiment will first be described with reference to FIG. 1. The image pickup apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a camera 10 having a substantially box-like shape, and a front central portion thereof. A lens barrel 12 of an optical system including a lens, a diaphragm, and a shutter is mounted to protrude near the unit, and a distance measuring window 14 for autofocus is provided above and slightly obliquely above the lens barrel. Also, beside the lens barrel 12, a forward directional microphone 16 for inputting a sound emitted from the direction of the subject, and a light emitting diode (LED (Light Emitting Diode) that turns on and off according to a predetermined blinking pattern during voice recognition. )) 18 are provided.

On one side of the upper surface of the camera 10 body,
A release button 22 that is pressed when the shutter is driven in the normal manual shooting mode, and a mode dial 20 for selecting the manual shooting mode, the voice shooting mode, and the voice pattern registration mode are provided. , A liquid crystal display unit 24 for displaying setting states of various functions, and a plus (+) adjustment button 26 and a minus (-) adjustment button 28 for switching and setting the display.

Next, the circuit configuration of the control system of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2. The control system of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment includes a switch detection circuit 100, a timer circuit 102, A strobe drive circuit 104, an audio pattern registration circuit 106, a display control circuit 108, a photometry circuit 110,
LED drive circuit 112 and auto focus (AF) circuit 114
, A lens barrel drive circuit 116, a film transport circuit 118, a shutter drive circuit 120, a voice input circuit 122, and a voice recognition circuit 124.These circuits 100 to 124 are each a main control circuit (CPU (Central Processor). Unit)) connected to 126,
It is configured to drive and control each part of the camera.

The details of the above components will be described. The switch detection circuit 100 is a detection circuit that detects switching of the mode dial 20, pressing of the release button 22, and pressing of the adjustment buttons 26 and 28. Main control circuit 126
To supply.

The timer circuit 102 is a timer circuit for measuring the set time of the self-timer in the manual photographing mode by the release button 22 and the predetermined release waiting time in the sound photographing mode, respectively. In the mode, a predetermined time is set in advance,
By operating the adjustment buttons 26 and 28, the set time can be adjusted to be long or short.

The flash drive circuit 104 includes a main control circuit 126
In this embodiment, for example, when the strobe light emission is turned on in the liquid crystal display, the drive circuit drives the strobe light emission based on the photometry result from the photometry circuit 110. Drive.

The voice pattern registration circuit 106 is a storage circuit for storing the voice pattern input from the voice input circuit 122 when the mode dial 20 is switched to the position for specifying the voice registration mode, such as an EEPROM. Of non-volatile storage elements. In particular, in the present embodiment, the first audio pattern for focus adjustment, for example, “focus adjustment” is used as the instruction pattern in the audio shooting mode.
And a second voice pattern for photography, for example, the voice pattern of the photographer who has issued "take a picture" are registered in the storage element in advance.

The display control circuit 108 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) 24
Is driven by the main control circuit 126 to display character data in various modes and the like on the liquid crystal display unit 24.

The photometric circuit 110 is an arithmetic circuit for determining the amount of light incident on the optical system under the control of the main control circuit 126. For example, any one of multi-pattern, center-weighted, spot photometric, etc., or a plurality of photometric systems Is advantageously set to be switchable. The result of the photometry is supplied to the main control circuit 126, which is used to determine the exposure or to indicate when the strobe is on or off.

The LED driving circuit 112 is a driving circuit that causes the light emitting diode 18 on the front of the camera to blink in a predetermined blinking pattern under the control of the main control circuit 126 in the voice photographing mode. Turns on the light-emitting diode 18 to instruct voice input, flashes in a first flashing pattern when voice is input and its recognition succeeds, and flashes in a second flashing when recognition fails. This is a recognition result notification circuit that blinks in a pattern.

The autofocus circuit 114 is an arithmetic circuit that measures the distance to the subject and obtains the focal position. In the present embodiment, the autofocus circuit 114 is activated when the first voice pattern is recognized in the voice photographing mode. Then, the focus position of the subject is obtained. The calculation result is supplied to the main control circuit 126. The lens barrel drive circuit 116 is a drive circuit that drives the lens barrel 12 to the focus determined by the autofocus circuit 114 under the control of the main control circuit 126 and adjusts the lens position.

The film transport circuit 118 includes a main control circuit 126
In this embodiment, the film is wound up by one frame each time a release operation is performed, and all the films that have been shot at the end of the film are rewound into the cartridge. (Advanced
Photo System) compatible circuits are advantageously applied.

The shutter drive circuit 120 includes a main control circuit 126
A drive circuit that opens and closes the shutter under the control of
In this embodiment, the release button 22 is used in the manual shooting mode.
The shutter is driven in response to the depression of the button, and in the voice photographing mode, the timer circuit 10 is recognized after the second voice pattern is recognized.
The shutter is driven when the release wait time is counted in step 2.

The voice input circuit 122 is an input circuit for converting an analog voice signal from the microphone 16 into a digital signal and inputting it. In the voice registration mode, the voice input circuit 122 registers the voice signal in the voice pattern registration circuit 106 via the main control circuit 126. In the voice recording mode, the data is supplied to the voice recognition circuit 124 through the main control circuit 126.

The voice recognition circuit 124 is a pattern detection circuit for detecting whether or not the voice signal from the voice input circuit 122 contains a predetermined voice pattern in the voice photographing mode. In this embodiment, the voice recognition circuit 124 stores the voice pattern input under the control of the main control circuit 126 into the voice pattern registration circuit 10.
6 is a voice collating circuit for sequentially collating with the first or second voice pattern registered in advance. The comparison result is supplied to the main control circuit 126.

The main control circuit 126 includes the switch detection circuit 100
An imaging control circuit for controlling a series of shooting operations in accordance with the instruction mode of the mode dial 20 detected by the CPU, a central processing circuit (CPU) 128, and respective sequence programs of a manual shooting mode, a voice shooting mode, and a voice registration mode. ROM (Read Only Memory) in which data such as a program for operating a central processing circuit including
ory) 130 and RAM (Random Access Mem) that stores various data including character data indicating the setting status in each mode and data for exposure or focus calculation.
ory) 132.

Next, the operation of the image pickup apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. First, the photographer is required to adjust the first voice pattern for adjusting the focus and The second audio pattern is registered in advance before photographing. That is, when the photographer sets the mode dial 20 to the voice registration mode, the control system detects this by the switch detection circuit 100 and supplies the result to the main control circuit 126. Accordingly, the main control circuit 126 controls the voice pattern registration circuit 106 to be in a writable state, and
Wait for voice input from 16. At this time, the main control circuit 126
For example, activate the LED drive circuit 112 to activate the light emitting diode
Turn 18 on.

Thus, when the photographer issues a sound such as “focus adjustment” as the first sound pattern, the sound signal is transmitted from the microphone 16 to the sound input circuit 122.
Is converted into a digital signal and written into the audio pattern registration circuit 106. At this time, the main control circuit 126 drives the LED drive circuit 112 to flash the light emitting diode 18 while writing the first audio pattern, and turns on the light emitting diode 18 again when the writing is completed. Next, the photographer utters a voice such as “take a picture” as the second voice pattern, and registers the second voice pattern at the time of shooting in the voice pattern registration circuit 106 in the same manner as described above. As a result, it becomes possible to take a picture by voice input.

Next, the operation at the time of photographing will be described with reference to FIG. 3. First, when the photographer turns on the main power supply of the camera in step S10, the main control circuit 126 proceeds to step S1.
In step 2, the state of each circuit is detected and each unit is initialized. Next, in step S14, the photographer operates the mode dial 20 and the adjustment buttons 26 and 28 while watching the display on the liquid crystal display unit 24 to select or set a photographing mode and photographing conditions.

When the shooting mode and the shooting conditions are set, the main control circuit 126 proceeds to step S16, and determines whether or not the voice shooting mode is selected. If the manual shooting mode has been selected, the process proceeds to step S18, where a normal shooting sequence by pressing the release button 22 is executed. If the audio shooting mode is selected, the main control circuit 126 activates the audio input circuit 122 and
Move to S20, and wait for the first voice input. At this time, the LED drive circuit 112 is driven, and the light emitting diode 18 is turned on.
With this, the photographer fixes the camera 10 at a predetermined position, directs the photographing direction to a place where the photographer himself becomes a subject, and in this state, the photographer himself goes to the photographing place . Then, the photographer, at the shooting location,
When a voice “focus adjustment” registered in advance is issued, the voice is input from the microphone 16 to the voice input circuit 12.
2 and converted into digital signals are sequentially supplied to a speech recognition circuit 124.

At this time, the main control circuit 126 determines in step S22
Then, the first voice pattern is read from the voice pattern registration circuit 106 and supplied to the voice recognition circuit 124 so that the voice recognition circuit 124 checks the voice patterns. More specifically, for example, as shown in FIG.
In step S102, the frequency patterns of the input voice and the registered voice are extracted. Next, these frequency patterns are collated in step S104, and the result is supplied to the main control circuit 126 in step S106.

As a result, the main control circuit 126 receiving the recognition result from the voice recognition circuit 124 executes the step S2 shown in FIG.
In step 4, it is determined whether or not the voice pattern has been recognized. If the result of the determination is "No", the process proceeds to step S26 and the LE
It instructs the D drive circuit 112 to a second blinking pattern indicating that voice recognition could not be performed. As a result, when the LED driving circuit 112 causes the light emitting diode 18 to blink in the second blinking pattern, the photographer sees the blinking pattern and knows that voice recognition was not possible. Next, the main control circuit 126
Turns on the light emitting diode 18 again, and returns to step S20. As a result, the photographer again generates the first voice pattern, and steps S20 to S24 are repeated. When the voice pattern is successfully recognized in step S22, the main control circuit 126 proceeds from step S24 to step S28. Instruct the LED drive circuit 112 to a first blinking pattern indicating that the voice has been recognized, and the light emitting diode 18 blinks in the first blinking pattern.

Next, the process proceeds to step S30 shown in FIG.
The main control circuit 126 activates the auto focus circuit 114 to obtain the focal length of the subject, and drives the lens barrel drive circuit 116 based on the result to adjust the lens position to focus on the subject. This operation is repeated several times, and when the in-focus state for the subject is obtained, the main control circuit 126
The LED driving circuit 112 is driven to stop the first blinking pattern of the light emitting diode, and is turned on again. This allows the photographer to know that the focus has been adjusted,
In step S32, a second voice pattern "take a picture" is uttered. The speech is supplied from the microphone 16 to the speech recognition circuit 124 via the speech input circuit 122 in the same manner as described above, and in step S34, the speech pattern registration circuit 106
From the second voice pattern registered in advance. The determination result is supplied to the main control circuit 126 in the same manner as described above, and it is determined in step S36 whether or not voice recognition has been performed.

If the voice recognition is not performed in step S36, the light emitting diode 18 is flashed in the second flashing pattern in step S38 in the same manner as described above.
The process returns to S32 and waits for the input of the second voice pattern again. When voice recognition is performed in step S36, the main control circuit
In step 126, the process proceeds from step S36 to step S40, in which the light emitting diode 18 is caused to blink in the first blinking pattern and the timer circuit 102 is activated, as described above. Thus, the timer circuit 102 starts measuring a predetermined set time or a time obtained by adjusting the set time, and when the time has elapsed, sends the result to the main control circuit 126. During this time, the camera 10 is in a shooting standby state. At this time, the photographer, who is the subject, sees the first blinking pattern of the light emitting diode 18 and knows that the voice has been recognized, adjusts the expression from the state of sound generation to the state of shooting, and adjusts the expression of the camera. Wait for release operation.

Next, the main control circuit 126
Upon receipt of the timing result from 2, the photographing standby state is released, and in step S42, the shutter drive circuit 120 is activated to release the shutter, and the subject at that time is imaged. When the subject is imaged, the main control circuit 126 drives the film transport circuit 118 to wind the film in step S44, turns on the light emitting diode 18 again, and ends the photographing. When the photographer further shoots at the same place, the second voice pattern is emitted again, and steps S32 to S44 are repeated, so that the photographer can shoot. When the photographing position is changed back and forth, the focus is adjusted again by moving to the position and generating the first voice pattern, and thereafter, by generating the second voice pattern, Similarly, a release operation is performed, and shooting can be performed.

As described above, according to the imaging apparatus of the present embodiment, the microphone 16 for voice input is provided on the front surface of the camera 10 so as to input the voice emitted from the same direction as the direction of the subject entering the optical system. Therefore, when the photographer himself takes a picture as a subject, he / she can accurately input the voice and perform voice recognition. In addition, the camera
10Blinks the light emitting diode 18 provided on the front of the main unit to notify the photographer whether or not voice recognition has been performed,
The photographer can continue operating the camera by voice input without moving the location. Further, the focus is adjusted by inputting the first voice pattern, and the second voice pattern is adjusted.
Since the photographing operation is performed by inputting the voice pattern of the photographer, the photographer can emit the first voice pattern at the photographing location to accurately focus on the photographer who has become the subject and photograph. it can. In addition, the timer circuit 102 is activated from the recognition of the second voice pattern, and the shutter is operated after a predetermined time elapses, so that the photographer can adjust his / her facial expression or pause during that time. Thus, a desired expression can be accurately captured without being captured in a state where sound is generated.

In the above-described embodiment, the first voice pattern is recognized and the auto-focus circuit 114 is activated after setting the voice photographing mode. However, in order to shorten the focus adjustment time, for example, 6 and 7
As shown in (5), when the audio photographing mode is set, the auto focus circuit 114 is activated in step S50 to perform focus adjustment, and after focusing once, the first audio pattern is input (step S20). In step S30, the focus may be adjusted again to lock the focus.

In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a camera using a silver halide film has been described as an example. However, in the present invention, a CCD (Charge Coupled) is used as an image pickup means.
Of course, the present invention may be applied to a digital camera using a (Device).

Further, in the above embodiment, only the focus adjustment is controlled as the setting of the photographing function by voice input from the photographing position. However, in the present invention, the exposure control by the aperture and the shutter speed, and the zoom control For example, the settings of other shooting functions may be controlled by voice input from the shooting position. Further, the release waiting time can be set to a time according to the result of the voice recognition processing.

In the above embodiment, the voice recognition result is notified to the photographer by blinking the light emitting diode 18. In the present invention, for example, a voice synthesizing circuit is provided in the control system, and the voice synthesizing circuit is provided. The speech recognition result may be generated by synthesis.

[0046]

As described above, according to the imaging apparatus of the present invention,
Audio input means for inputting audio from the same direction as the incident direction of the scene image from the optical system, and recognizing whether or not the audio input from the audio input means includes a predetermined audio pattern; When the voice pattern is recognized, the object scene image is taken after a predetermined time has elapsed.
When the photographer himself becomes the subject, the sound from the photographing position can be accurately inputted, and the photographer himself can be photographed accurately in a state where the expression is further adjusted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an imaging device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of FIG. 1 in a voice shooting mode.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of FIG. 1 in a voice shooting mode.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of FIG. 1 at the time of voice recognition.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of FIG. 1 at the time of voice recognition;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining another operation example of the imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

[Description of Signs] 10 Camera body 12 Lens barrel 16 Microphone 18 Light emitting diode 20 Mode dial 22 Release button 24 LCD display 26,28 Adjustment button 102 Timer circuit 106 Voice pattern registration circuit 122 Voice input circuit 124 Voice recognition circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G10L 15/22 H04N 101: 00 H04N 5/225 G10L 3/00 551G 5/232 561H // H04N 101: 00 561C

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup apparatus for picking up a desired image of a scene incident via an optical system including a lens by a predetermined image pickup means, wherein the apparatus outputs sound from the incident direction of the scene image. Voice input means for inputting; voice recognition means for recognizing whether or not voice input by the voice input means includes a predetermined voice pattern; predetermined voice recognition means for recognizing a predetermined voice pattern by the voice recognition means. Time-measuring means for measuring the elapse of time, and imaging control means for controlling an operation of imaging the desired object image from the optical system to the imaging means when the elapse of a predetermined time is measured by the time-measuring means. An imaging device comprising: 2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time setting means sets a desired set time in advance,
The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a time adjusting unit that variably adjusts the set time. 3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus includes a sound registration unit in which a plurality of sound patterns are registered in advance, and an object scene image which enters the image pickup unit by controlling the optical system. Focusing control means for adjusting the focus of the voice, wherein the voice recognition means recognizes a first voice pattern from the voice input means based on a first voice pattern registered in advance in the voice registration means. A first voice recognition means for activating the focus control means, and a second voice pattern from the voice input means being recognized based on a second voice pattern registered in advance in the voice registration means. And a second voice recognizing means for activating the time measuring means. 4. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus determines whether or not a predetermined voice pattern has been recognized by at least the voice recognition unit. An image pickup apparatus comprising a notifying unit for notifying. 5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the notifying unit is configured to perform the notification based on a recognition result of the voice recognition unit and a light emitting unit attached to a front surface of the apparatus main body provided with the optical system. Driving means for driving the light emitting means, wherein the driving means blinks the light emitting means in a first blinking pattern when the voice recognition means recognizes a predetermined voice pattern, and An image pickup apparatus characterized in that the means blinks in a second blinking pattern when recognition is not possible.