JP2010114599A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a digital camera which captures a wide-range image which a user desires, with a high resolution. <P>SOLUTION: The digital camera first determines a photographic range of an entire image and determines how many partial images the determined photographic range of the entire image should be composed of. When the number of partial images to be photographed is determined, the digital camera determines a zoom angle of view of a zoom lens required for covering the photographic range of the entire image with the determined number of partial images. The digital camera adjusts the zoom angle of view of the zoom lens to make an imaging device image the partial images and combines the plurality of captured partial images to obtain an entire composite image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital camera.

  An image photographing apparatus such as a digital camera that performs composite photographing of images is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this image capturing apparatus, when the direction of the camera is moved in a state where the first captured image is displayed on the display screen, the acceleration sensor detects the movement of the camera, and the first captured image is left with the first captured image being placed. The display image changes so that the display screen shifts in the same direction as the movement direction. The image remaining in the display screen is fixed and displayed as a guide image in a translucent manner, and the current image currently being captured by the camera is displayed overlaid on the entire display screen.

JP 2007-174301 A

  When a magnified image is created by superimposing a plurality of images with different shooting ranges as in the conventional apparatus described above, there is a problem that a part that is insufficient for superposition occurs or an extra part is taken.

A digital camera according to the present invention includes a photographing optical system including a zoom lens, an image pickup device that picks up a subject image formed by the photographing optical system, a whole image determining unit that determines a photographing range of the whole image, and a plurality of parts. In order to generate a combined whole image obtained by combining the images and enlarging the whole image, a partial image number determining unit that determines the number of a plurality of partial images, and a shooting range of the whole image determined by the whole image determining unit, The zoom angle of view determining means for determining the zoom angle of view of the zoom lens and the zoom angle of view of the zoom lens required for covering with the number of partial images determined by the number of partial images determined means And a partial image obtaining unit that controls the zoom angle of view determined by the step S1 to cause the image sensor to capture a partial image.
A digital camera according to the present invention includes a photographing optical system including a zoom lens, an image pickup device that picks up a subject image formed by the photographing optical system, a whole image determining unit that determines a photographing range of the whole image, and a plurality of parts. Determined by the zoom angle determination means for determining the zoom angle of view of the zoom lens when photographing a plurality of partial images and the overall image determination means in order to generate a combined overall image by combining the images and enlarging the entire image A partial image number determining means for determining the number of partial images necessary to cover the entire entire image shooting range with the zoom angle determined by the zoom angle determining means, and a zoom image of the zoom lens The angle is controlled to the zoom angle of view determined by the zoom angle of view determination means, and the image pickup device includes a partial image acquisition means for capturing a partial image.

  According to the present invention, an extra portion is not photographed to generate a composite whole image, and an area lacking in image composition is eliminated.

<< First Embodiment >>
A digital camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the digital camera 100 according to the first embodiment. The digital camera 100 includes a photographing lens 101, an image sensor 102, an image processing circuit 103, a memory interface 104, a memory 105, a display device 106, an operation member 107, a CPU 108, and a flash memory 109. Yes.

  The photographing lens 101 is a photographing optical system including a plurality of optical lens groups including a zoom lens and a focus lens. In FIG. 1, a plurality of optical lens groups are represented by a single lens. The lens position control circuit 110 controls the position of the zoom lens and the focus lens included in the photographing lens 101 according to a command from the CPU 108. The image sensor 102 is, for example, a CCD sensor or a CMOS sensor, and acquires an image signal by capturing a subject image formed by the photographing lens 101. The image sensor 102 outputs the acquired image signal to the image processing circuit 103. The image sensor 102 captures a subject image when the release button included in the operation member 107 is fully pressed by the user.

  The image processing circuit 103 converts an analog image signal input from the image sensor 102 into a digital image signal (A / D conversion). The image processing circuit 103 performs various image processing such as gradation correction processing and contour enhancement processing on the digital image signal after A / D conversion, that is, image data, and stores the image after image processing in a buffer memory. Are temporarily stored in the flash memory 109. The image processing circuit 103 compresses the image after image processing into a predetermined image format, for example, JPEG format, and generates an image file, for example, an Exif format image file, in which various shooting information is added as additional information to the compressed image data. To do. The generated image file is output to the memory interface 104.

  Furthermore, the image processing circuit 103 also generates a synthesized whole image, a reduced whole image, a guide image, and the like obtained by a whole image generation process described later.

  The memory interface 104 is, for example, a memory card slot, and records an image file in a memory 105 stored in the slot, for example, a memory card. Note that the image processing circuit 103 can also output and record an image file in a flash memory 109 as a built-in memory.

  The display device 106 is, for example, a liquid crystal monitor mounted on the back surface of the digital camera 100, and based on an instruction from the CPU 108, a composite whole image, a reduced whole image, and a guide image obtained by a composite whole image generation process. Is displayed. Furthermore, the display device 106 displays an image recorded in the memory 105, a menu screen for setting the operation of the digital camera 100, and the like.

  The operation member 107 includes various switches and buttons operated by the user. For example, the operation member 107 includes a power button, a playback button, a release button, a zoom button, a menu button, a cross button, a determination button, and the like. The display device 106 may be provided with a touch panel function so that selection of a partial image, which will be described later, can be performed with a touch panel provided in the display device 106. Further, the functions of the menu button, the cross button, and the enter button may be realized by a touch panel.

  The CPU 108 is a controller that controls the overall operation of the digital camera 100. The CPU 108 reads a program recorded in the flash memory 109 and executes various processes described later.

  Next, the operation of the digital camera 100 according to the first embodiment will be described.

  The digital camera 100 according to the first embodiment acquires a wide range of images with high resolution by performing an image composition process that combines a plurality of images after they are captured. Here, when the user decides the shooting position and shoots a plurality of images, the overlapping part for joining the plurality of images becomes insufficient, or an extra part that was not intended to be included in the entire image enters the image. , There is a possibility that the result as expected by the user cannot be obtained. Further, when creating a composite image by connecting a plurality of images, it is not clear to the user before the composition what the overall image will be after the composition.

  Therefore, in the first embodiment, first, after determining the imaging range of the entire image that the user wants to acquire, a plurality of partial images necessary for obtaining a desired entire image are captured. Then, by synthesizing the captured partial images to generate an overall image, a high-resolution overall image that matches the desired imaging range is acquired. The overall image generation process according to the first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the entire image generation process, and this process is executed by the CPU 108.

  The process illustrated in FIG. 2 is started when, for example, the entire image generation process is selected from the operation menu of the digital camera 100 in accordance with the operation of the operation member 107 or the like.

  When the entire image generation process is selected, first, in step S10, the CPU 108 determines a final entire image capturing range. The shooting range of the entire image corresponds to the range and size of the entire image. The user operates the zoom button while confirming the live view image (through image) displayed on the display device 106 on the back of the digital camera 100, and finally determines the range and size of the entire image to be acquired. When the range and size of the entire image are determined, the user fully presses the release button included in the operation member 107. In response to the full-press operation of the release button, the CPU 108 causes the image sensor 102 to capture the entire image, and temporarily records the acquired image signal data in the flash memory 109 as the entire image data.

  When determining the shooting range of the entire image, the entire image in the widest range can be acquired by setting the zoom lens position to the wide end. The position of the zoom lens is set according to the user's preference, but if the entire image is determined at the tele end, a later-described partial image cannot be obtained. Therefore, the entire image shooting range is set at a zoom lens position other than the tele end. Like that.

  In step S <b> 11, the CPU 108 determines how many partial images the image capturing range of the entire image determined in step S <b> 10 is configured according to the operation of the operation member 107 by the user. FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the whole image and the partial image when the whole image is generated from four partial images. The size of the entire image is (X × Y), and the size of one partial image is (x × y). Each of the partial images 1 to 4 includes an overlap region (overlapping portion) (Δx, Δy) necessary for image synthesis. Note that the size (width) of the overlap region is appropriately set to a size sufficient to join the entire images according to the size of the entire image and the number of partial images. For example, the size of the overlap area is set to about 10% of the entire partial image.

  When the user operates the operation member 107 to select the number of partial images to be captured, the CPU 108 generates a reduced image of the entire image in the image processing circuit 103 using the entire image data recorded in the flash memory 109 in step S10. Let The generated reduced whole image is displayed on the display screen of the display device 106, for example, at the lower right as shown in FIG. In the reduced whole image 200, a boundary line 201 is superimposed and displayed so that it can be seen at a glance how many partial images the whole image is to be composed of. For example, a live view image is displayed on a display screen other than the overall reduced screen 200. FIG. 4 shows an example in which an entire image is generated from four partial images 1 to 4.

  In this way, a desired value is set according to the operation by the user as to how many partial images are used to generate the entire image. However, the upper limit of the number of partial images to be captured is set to an appropriate value according to the zoom lens magnification of the digital camera 100. For example, the upper limit is the number of partial images that are required when the zoom lens is set to the wide end to determine the entire image and the zoom lens is set to the tele end to acquire the partial image.

  In step S12, the CPU 108 automatically determines the zoom angle of view of the taking lens 101 according to the size of the entire image determined in step S10 and the number of partial images determined in step S11. That is, the CPU 108 sets a zoom angle of view necessary for capturing a partial image having a size (x × y) as shown in FIG. 3, and realizes the set zoom angle of view in the lens position control circuit 110. Adjust the zoom lens position.

  In step S <b> 13, the CPU 108 determines a partial image to be captured first from a plurality of partial images. For example, in a state where the reduced entire image 200 is displayed on the display screen as shown in FIG. 4, the user operates a cross button included in the operation member 107 to select a desired partial image, and presses the enter button. Thereby, the CPU 108 determines the selected partial image, for example, the partial image 1 as a partial image to be photographed first. When the partial image 1 is determined as the first captured image, the CPU 108 automatically determines the partial image to be captured next. For example, after the partial image 1 is captured, the CPU 108 determines the photographing order so that the partial image 2 → the partial image 3 → the partial image 4 are photographed in this order.

  When the user operates the operation member 107 to select a partial image to be captured first, the CPU 108 uses the entire image data recorded in the flash memory 109 in step S10 to cause the image processing circuit 103 to select the selected partial image. A guide image corresponding to is generated. The guide image is an image for assisting the user in capturing the partial image in order to capture the same composition as the partial images constituting the entire image. As a guide image, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, an image in a range corresponding to the selected partial image 1 is enlarged in accordance with the size of the entire display screen of the display device 106, and the display color is made translucent. Is generated and fixedly displayed on the entire display screen. Note that the guide image is an image in a range (x × y) including the overlap region of each partial image shown in FIG. The size of the guide image displayed on the entire display screen matches the size of the partial image when the partial image is captured at the zoom angle of view set in step S12.

  In subsequent step S14, a partial image is taken. Specifically, the user follows the guide image displayed on the display device 106 in step S13 so that the guide image displayed in a translucent manner matches the actual image (live view image) displayed on the display screen. Then, the orientation of the digital camera 100 is adjusted to determine the shooting range of the partial image 1, and the release button included in the operation member 107 is fully pressed. The CPU 108 causes the image sensor 102 to capture the partial image 1 in response to the full pressing operation of the release button, and temporarily records the acquired image signal data as the partial image 1 data in the flash memory 109.

  In step S <b> 15, the CPU 108 determines whether shooting of all partial images has been completed. Specifically, if all the partial images 1 to 4 have been photographed, an affirmative determination is made in step S15 and the process proceeds to step S16. If all the partial images 1 to 4 have not yet been photographed, the process proceeds to step 14. Return.

  When all the partial images 1 to 4 have not been shot yet and the process returns to step S <b> 14, the CPU 108 displays a guide image corresponding to the next partial image 2 to be shot on the display screen of the display device 106. In step S14, the partial image 2 is captured. Specifically, as in the case of the partial image 1, the user determines the shooting range of the partial image 2 by adjusting the orientation of the digital camera 100 so that the shooting range of the guide image and the live view image match. The release button included in the member 107 is fully pressed. The CPU 108 causes the image sensor 102 to capture the partial image 2 in response to the full pressing operation of the release button, and temporarily records the acquired image signal data as the partial image 2 data in the flash memory 109. This process is repeated until all the partial images 1 to 4 are photographed.

  If all the partial images 1 to 4 have been photographed, the process proceeds to step S16, and it is determined whether or not to retake the partial images 1 to 4. As described above, the user sets the shooting position of the partial image according to the guide image, but there are cases where the user wants to retake the partial image, for example, the joints of the plurality of partial images do not match well. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, whether or not the overlap area of a plurality of partial images is enlarged and displayed on the display screen of the display device 106 and the user re-takes the partial images. Let me check. The confirmation image in FIG. 6 (a) is an enlarged view of the overlap region between partial image 1 and partial image 2, and the confirmation image in FIG. 6 (b) is an enlarged view of the overlap region between partial image 1 and partial image 4. Yes.

  Note that the entire reduced image 200 and the boundary line 201 are also displayed in the confirmation images of FIGS. Further, a frame 202 indicating a portion currently displayed as a confirmation image is displayed over the entire reduced image 200.

  When the user wishes to retake a partial image while viewing the confirmation image as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the user operates the operation member 107 to “re-reload” displayed in the confirmation image. Select / determine button. On the other hand, when re-taking is not desired, the user operates the operation member 107 to select / determine the “OK” button displayed in the confirmation image. As described above, if it is determined in step S16 that the partial image is to be retaken, the process returns to step S14. If retaking is not performed, it is determined that the partial image has been taken, and the process proceeds to step S17.

  In step S <b> 17, the CPU 108 reads an image composition program recorded in the flash memory 109 and synthesizes a plurality of partial images recorded in the flash memory 109 to generate an entire image. At the time of synthesizing the whole image, correction of overlap areas of a plurality of partial images, for example, distortion correction and averaging is also performed. Details of the image composition processing are omitted. By synthesizing a plurality of partial images in this way, it is possible to create a synthesized overall image obtained by enlarging the entire image whose shooting range has been determined in step S10. In step S <b> 18, the CPU 108 records the composite whole image data generated in step S <b> 17 in the memory 105. Thus, the current process is terminated.

In the first embodiment described above, the following operational effects can be obtained.
(1) First, the CPU 108 of the digital camera 100 determines the shooting range of the entire image, and operates the operation member 107 by the user to generate a combined entire image obtained by combining a plurality of partial images and enlarging the entire image. The number of partial images is determined according to the above. The CPU 108 determines the zoom angle of view of the zoom lens that is necessary to cover the entire image shooting range with the determined number of partial images. Then, the CPU 108 causes the lens position control circuit 110 to control the zoom field angle of the zoom lens to the determined zoom field angle, and causes the image sensor 102 to capture a partial image. Thus, an extra portion is not photographed to generate a synthesized overall image, and an area lacking in image synthesis is eliminated, and a wide range of images desired by the user can be acquired with high resolution.
(2) When the CPU 108 creates a reduced image of the entire image and acquires a plurality of partial images, the CPU 108 displays the reduced entire image on the display screen of the display device 106, for example, as shown in FIG. Thereby, a user's operation can be assisted when taking a partial image.
(3) The CPU 108 determines the shooting order of the plurality of partial images according to the operation of the operation member 107 by the user. Thereby, the user can photograph a plurality of partial images in a favorite order.
(4) The CPU 108 divides the entire image by the determined number of partial images, enlarges the image corresponding to each partial image, generates a guide image, and acquires the partial image, for example, as shown in FIG. Thus, the guide image is displayed on the display device 106 in a translucent manner. Accordingly, the user can easily take a partial image having the same composition while checking the guide image.
(5) After acquiring all of the plurality of partial images, the CPU 108 generates confirmation images of overlapping areas of the partial images and displays them on the display device 106, for example, as shown in FIGS. . After displaying the confirmation image, the CPU 108 determines whether to retake the partial image in accordance with the operation of the operation member 107 by the user. Since the user can determine whether or not to retake the partial image after confirming the overlap region, the user can retake the partial image as necessary.
(6) When the CPU 108 determines that the user does not retake a partial image, the CPU 108 records a plurality of partial images in the memory 105. Thereby, the partial image desired by the user can be recorded.

<< Second Embodiment >>
A digital camera according to the second embodiment will be described below. Since the basic configuration of the digital camera according to the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, description thereof is omitted. In the following, differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

  In the first embodiment described above, after determining the shooting range of the entire image and the user determining the number of partial images to be shot, the digital camera 100 automatically determines the zoom angle of view (steps S11 and S12). . On the other hand, in the second embodiment, after the shooting range of the entire image is determined and the zoom angle of view for shooting the partial image is determined by the user, the digital camera 100 automatically captures the number of partial images. Is configured to determine.

  Specifically, after determining the shooting range of the entire image, the user operates a zoom button included in the operation member 107 to determine a zoom angle of view for shooting a partial image. Thereby, the resolution obtained in the whole image after synthesis is determined. When the user determines the zoom angle of view for capturing a partial image, the CPU calculates the number of partial images to be captured to generate the entire image when the partial image is captured at the determined zoom angle of view. To do.

  When the entire image is captured at the focal length Amm, the user operates the zoom button to adjust the focal length, and determines the focal length at which a desired resolution is obtained. When the focal length is determined, the CPU 108 determines the number of captured partial images from the angle of view corresponding to the determined focal length and the angle of view corresponding to the focal length Amm when the entire image is captured.

  For example, the angle of view when the entire image is captured at the focal length A = 28 mm is vertical angle of view = 45 °, horizontal angle of view = 64 °, and nominal diagonal angle of view = 74 °. The angle of view when the focal length is changed to increase the resolution and the focal length for partial image shooting is 50 mm is as follows: vertical angle of view = 26 °, horizontal angle of view = 39 °, nominal diagonal angle of view = 46 ° is there. In this way, if an angle of view corresponding to a focal length of 50 mm and an angle of view corresponding to a focal length of 28 mm are all photographed, a total of four partial images including two overlapping images and two horizontal images including the overlap region. Is required.

  In this way, the CPU 108 determines the number of partial images to be photographed according to the relationship between the photographing angle of view of the photographing lens 101 for the entire image and the partial image. After determining the number of partial images to be captured, the CPU 108 performs the processing from step S13 onward in the flowchart of FIG. 2 as in the first embodiment described above.

  Thus, in the second embodiment described above, the following operational effects can be obtained in addition to the effects of the first embodiment described above.

  The CPU 108 of the digital camera 100 determines the shooting range of the entire image, and generates a combined whole image by combining the plurality of partial images and enlarging the whole image, in accordance with the operation of the operation member 107 by the user. The zoom angle of view of the zoom lens when shooting the partial image is determined. Then, the CPU 108 determines the number of partial images necessary to cover the entire image shooting range with the determined zoom angle of view, and the lens position control circuit 110 determines the zoom angle of view of the zoom lens. The zoom angle of view is controlled to cause the image sensor 102 to capture a partial image. Thus, an extra portion is not photographed to generate a synthesized overall image, and an area lacking in image synthesis is eliminated, and a wide range of images desired by the user can be acquired with high resolution.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the entire image is synthesized in the digital camera 100. However, an external image synthesizing apparatus performs a process of synthesizing a plurality of partial images to generate an entire image. It may be configured to do. That is, the digital camera 100 captures and records a partial image, and uses the partial image data obtained by the digital camera to perform image composition in an image composition device such as a personal computer in accordance with an image composition program. In addition, after the entire image is generated by being synthesized by the digital camera 100, the generated synthesized image may be displayed on the display screen of the display device 106 before the entire image data is recorded.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, after the user determines the shooting position of the first partial image, the digital camera 100 automatically determines the shooting order of the partial images. The order may be configured to be selectable by the user. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the entire image and the partial image are displayed on the entire display screen of the display device 106, and the user selects the position of the partial image to be photographed first by operating the operation member 107. When the user selects the partial image 1, a selection frame 205 indicating the selected partial image is displayed over the partial image 1.

  The user operates the operation member 107 to move the selection frame 205, and next selects a partial image to be photographed. A partial image that can be selected next to the partial image 1 is a partial image 2 or a partial image 4 adjacent to the partial image 1. When the user selects the partial image 2, thereafter, the CPU 108 determines the shooting order so that shooting is performed in the order of the partial image 3 → the partial image 4. On the other hand, when the user selects the partial image 4, the CPU 108 determines the shooting order so that shooting is performed in the order of the partial image 3 → the partial image 2.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the example in which the number of partial images is four has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, six, eight, or nine sheets may be used as long as the number of sheets is necessary for acquiring the entire image with high resolution. Further, it may be configured such that the shooting range of the entire image is determined using a trigger other than the full pressing operation of the release button as a trigger.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, it has been described that the reduced whole image is displayed at the lower right of the display screen of the display device 106, but the display position is not limited to this. Further, although the description has been made on the assumption that the semi-transparent guide image is displayed on the display screen of the display device 106 when the partial image is captured, the present invention is not limited to this, and the guide image may not be displayed. In this case, the user can take a partial image while viewing the reduced whole image. Further, as a guide image, for example, a monochrome image may be used instead of a translucent image. When the guide image is displayed on the display screen, the guide image may be such that the user can know that it is different from the actual captured image (live view image).

  In the first and second embodiments described above, the photographic lens 101 functions as a photographic optical system, and the CPU 108 includes an overall image determination unit, a partial image number determination unit, a zoom field angle determination unit, a shooting order determination unit, And it can function as a re-taking judgment means. The image processing circuit 103 and the CPU 108 can function as a reduced image display unit, a guide image display unit, and a confirmation image display unit. The CPU 108 and the lens position control circuit can function as a partial image acquisition unit, and the memory interface 104 can function as a recording unit. The above description is merely an example, and when interpreting the invention, there is no limitation or restriction on the correspondence between the items described in the above embodiment and the items described in the claims.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a composite image generation process executed by the digital camera according to the first embodiment. The figure explaining the relationship between a whole image and a partial image. The figure which shows the reduction | restoration whole image displayed on a display screen. The figure which shows the guide image displayed on a display screen. (A) (b) The figure which shows the confirmation image of an overlap area | region. The figure explaining selection of the photography order of a partial image.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100: Digital camera, 101: Shooting lens, 102: Image pick-up element, 103: Image processing circuit, 104: Memory interface, 105: Memory, 106: Display apparatus, 107: Operation member, 108: CPU, 109: Flash memory

Claims (7)

A taking optical system including a zoom lens;
An image sensor for imaging a subject image formed by the imaging optical system;
Whole image determination means for determining the shooting range of the whole image;
A partial image number determining means for determining the number of the plurality of partial images in order to generate a combined whole image obtained by combining the plurality of partial images and enlarging the whole image;
A zoom angle of view of the zoom lens required to cover the entire image capturing range determined by the entire image determining unit with the number of partial images determined by the partial image number determining unit is determined. Zoom angle of view determination means;
And a partial image acquisition unit that controls a zoom field angle of the zoom lens to the zoom field angle determined by the zoom field angle determination unit and causes the imaging device to capture the partial image. camera. A taking optical system including a zoom lens;
An image sensor for imaging a subject image formed by the imaging optical system;
Whole image determination means for determining the shooting range of the whole image;
Zoom field angle determination means for determining a zoom field angle of the zoom lens when photographing the plurality of partial images in order to generate a combined whole image obtained by combining a plurality of partial images and enlarging the whole image;
A part for determining the number of the plurality of partial images necessary for covering the photographing range of the whole image determined by the whole image determining unit with the zoom field angle determined by the zoom field angle determining unit. Image number determining means;
And a partial image acquisition unit that controls a zoom field angle of the zoom lens to the zoom field angle determined by the zoom field angle determination unit and causes the imaging device to capture the partial image. camera. The digital camera according to claim 1 or 2,
A reduced image display for generating a reduced image of the whole image for which the shooting range has been determined by the whole image determining unit and displaying the reduced image on a display unit when the partial image is acquired by the partial image acquiring unit The digital camera further comprising means. The digital camera according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A digital camera, further comprising photographing order determining means for determining a photographing order of the plurality of partial images in accordance with an operation by a user. The digital camera according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The whole image for which the photographing range has been determined by the whole image determining unit is divided by the number of the partial images determined by the partial image number determining unit, and an image corresponding to each partial image is enlarged to be a guide image. A digital camera further comprising guide image display means for displaying the guide image on the display means in a translucent manner when the partial image is acquired by the partial image acquisition means. The digital camera according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
After obtaining all of the plurality of partial images by the partial image acquisition means, a confirmation image display means for generating a confirmation image of an overlap region of each partial image and displaying the confirmation image on the display means;
A digital camera, further comprising: a re-taking determination unit that determines whether to re-take the partial image in accordance with a user operation after the confirmation image is displayed by the confirmation image display unit. The digital camera according to claim 6, wherein
And a recording unit that records the plurality of partial images acquired by the partial image acquiring unit on a recording medium when the re-taking determination unit determines that the partial image is not re-taken. Digital camera.

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