JP2015034850A - Photographing device and photographing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable an execution of a flash photograph hardly causing overexposure or underexposure even when there are variations of light reflection properties among subjects within a photographing range in a photographing device.SOLUTION: A camera 1 comprises: an image pickup element 5 that photographs a subject: an illumination unit 4 that has a plurality of LED chips 4a emitting illumination light toward a plurality of illumination areas dispersedly set within a photograph range, and is capable of illuminating an entire photographing range by plurally lighting up the LED chips 4a; an amount-of-exposure measurement unit 14 that measures an amount of exposure from a photographing area corresponding to the plurality of illumination areas, respectively; and an amount-of-light emission control unit 15 that individually controls an amount of light emission of the LED chips 4a on the basis of the measurement result of the amount of exposure by the amount-of-exposure measurement unit 14.

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographing apparatus and a photographing method.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a photographing apparatus such as a camera, photographing may be performed with a built-in or external light source for shooting and emitting auxiliary illumination light.
As such a photographing illumination light source or photographing illumination device, for example, a flash light emitting device using a xenon tube or the like is known.
In recent years, with the development of white LED (light-emitting diode) technology, photographing illumination devices using white LEDs have been proposed.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a photographing illumination device that illuminates a photographing field using a plurality of discrete type white light emitting diodes in which a lens is formed on the front surface of a light emitting unit.
A distance measuring means for measuring a copy body distance; and a light emission control means for selectively emitting the plurality of white light emitting diodes based on a distance measurement result by the distance measuring means, wherein the plurality of white light emitting diodes are The light emission control means is arranged at a position close to the photographing optical axis when the distance measurement result of the distance measuring means is a short distance. In addition to the white light emitting diode disposed at a position close to the photographing optical axis, the white light emitting diode disposed at a far position as the distance measurement results from a short distance to a long distance. Are described, and a camera (imaging device) using the illumination device is described.

Japanese Patent No. 3584355

However, the conventional photographing apparatus and photographing method as described above have the following problems.
In order to perform good shooting in various shooting scenes, for example, depending on the situation such as the type, size, arrangement position, distance to the subject, shooting background, external light quantity of the shooting scene, etc. It is preferable to adjust the illumination light applied to.
However, it is difficult to adjust the illumination light because the number of light source lamps is limited in the illuminating illuminating device built in the conventional photographic device or the illuminating illuminating device used in connection with the photographic device. Met.
For example, in a flash light emitting device using a xenon tube or the like, although a large amount of light can be obtained, it is difficult to provide a plurality of light sources, so the amount of light at the center of the photographing range is high and the amount of light decreases as it goes to the periphery.
In the technique described in Patent Document 1, since a plurality of white light emitting diodes can be selectively made to emit light, the amount of light can be changed according to the number of light-emitting lamps. However, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1, the white light-emitting diode is “almost equal to or slightly wider than the angle of view of the photographing lens 1”. On the other hand, the light emission optical axes are arranged slightly shifted from each other, and as a result, “the irradiation field covers the entire imaging range even for the white LEDs 3A to 3F as a whole”.
For this reason, although the illumination light in the photographing range can be changed as a whole, the overall light amount distribution of the illumination light is substantially the same as the light amount distribution of one white light-emitting diode, so that the peripheral portion of the photographing range Then, the amount of light is reduced compared to the central portion.
As described above, in the conventional technique, the amount of illumination light in the shooting range is high in the central portion and low in the peripheral portion. Therefore, for example, if the main subject is not in the center of the shooting range, good shooting can be performed. There is a problem that cannot be done.
Also, depending on the shooting scene, there are other subjects and backgrounds (referred to as peripheral subjects) whose light reflection characteristics determined by the surface state and reflectance are significantly different from the main subject. For this reason, even if shooting is performed with illumination light that provides appropriate exposure for the main subject, if the light reflection characteristics of the surrounding subject are too high, the surrounding subject tends to have an overexposed image, and the light reflection of the surrounding subject If the characteristics are too low, there is a problem that the surrounding subject tends to be a blackened image.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can perform flash photography in which overexposure and underexposure are unlikely to occur even when there is a variation in light reflection characteristics between subjects within the photographing range. An object is to provide a photographing apparatus and a photographing method.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the imaging apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention illuminates toward an imaging unit that captures a subject and a plurality of illumination areas that are set dispersed in the imaging range. An illumination unit that has a plurality of LED light sources that irradiate light and can illuminate the entire photographing range by turning on the plurality of LED light sources, and an exposure amount from the photographing regions corresponding to the plurality of illumination regions, respectively. And a light emission amount control unit for individually controlling the light emission amounts of the plurality of LED light sources based on the measurement result of the exposure amount by the exposure amount measurement unit.

  In the photographing apparatus, the light emission amount control unit performs pre-light emission control for measuring an exposure amount and main light emission control for performing photographing, and the exposure amount measurement unit is controlled by the light emission amount control unit. While the pre-emission control is being performed, the exposure amount is measured, and the light emission amount control unit is configured to obtain the exposure amount necessary for photographing based on the measurement result of the exposure amount. The light emission amount of each light source is calculated, and in the main light emission control, the LED light source can be caused to emit light with the light emission amount.

  In the photographing apparatus, the pre-flash control can be performed in a shorter time than the shutter opening time at the time of photographing.

  In the photographing apparatus, the light emission amount control unit can control to change a light emission amount during photographing, and the exposure amount measurement unit measures the exposure amount in an initial stage of photographing, and controls the light emission amount. The unit calculates the correction value of the light emission amount of the plurality of LED light sources after the initial stage based on the measurement result of the exposure amount by the exposure amount measurement unit, and in the shooting after the initial stage, It is possible to change the light emission amounts of the plurality of LED light sources to the correction values, respectively.

  In the imaging method of the second aspect of the present invention, imaging is performed by irradiating a certain amount of illumination light with a plurality of LED light sources toward any of a plurality of illumination areas set dispersed in an imaging range. By illuminating the entire range, measuring the exposure amount from the imaging region corresponding to each of the plurality of illumination regions, and individually controlling the light emission amounts of the plurality of LED light sources based on the measurement result of the exposure amount The method is to perform photographing by correcting the light amount distribution of the illumination light.

  According to the imaging apparatus and the imaging method of the present invention, a plurality of LED light sources are turned on to illuminate a plurality of illumination areas, and the exposure amounts in the imaging areas respectively corresponding to the plurality of illumination areas are measured. Since the amount of light emitted from the multiple LED light sources is individually controlled based on the measurement results, flash photography that does not cause overexposure or underexposure even when there is a variation in light reflection characteristics between subjects within the imaging range is possible. There is an effect that can be done.

1 is a schematic front view showing a photographing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a typical block diagram which shows the main structure inside the imaging device of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is AA sectional drawing and BB sectional drawing in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of the imaging device of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the relationship between the imaging | photography range and the illumination area | region of illumination light in the imaging device of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the imaging | photography method by the imaging device of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a pixel area on an image sensor of the imaging apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a subject. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of AF operation of the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a timing chart of pre-light emission and main light emission of the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a typical graph which shows an example of the measurement result of the exposure amount of the imaging device of the 1st Embodiment of this invention, and an example of the setting of emitted light amount. It is a typical graph which shows an example of the change of the exposure amount in the pre light emission and the main light emission of the imaging device of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the imaging | photography method by the imaging device of the 1st modification of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a timing chart which shows control of the light emission amount in imaging | photography of the imaging device of the 1st modification of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a typical graph which shows an example of the change of the exposure amount during imaging | photography of the imaging device of the 1st modification of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a typical front view which shows the imaging device of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In all the drawings, even if the embodiments are different, the same or corresponding members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and common description is omitted.

[First Embodiment]
A photographing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an internal main configuration of the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a relationship between an imaging range and an illumination area of illumination light in the imaging apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a camera 1 (photographing device) of the present embodiment is a digital camera capable of photographing a still image and a moving image of a subject, and a photographing lens unit 3 (photographing unit) that is a photographing unit for photographing the subject. ), A camera body 2 (photographing unit), and an illumination unit 4.

In the following, unless otherwise specified, shooting means still image shooting, and description of moving image shooting will be given as necessary.
When referring to the positional relationship in the camera 1, the camera 1 is held in a posture in which the longitudinal direction of the shooting screen is in the horizontal direction, the lateral direction is in the vertical direction, and a shutter button 2 a described later is directed vertically upward. Correspondingly, the side on which the shutter button 2a is provided is referred to as the upper side, the subject side is referred to as the front side, and the photographer side is referred to as the rear side.

The taking lens unit 3 is a lens group for acquiring an image of a subject. As shown in FIG. 2, the taking lens unit 3 is a movable lens provided to be movable along the taking optical axis O in order to perform autofocus (AF). 3a and a fixed lens 3b whose position is fixed on the photographing optical axis O are held by the lens barrel 3d.
The moving lens 3a is held by a lens moving unit 3c that can move in the lens barrel 3d in the central axis direction.
The lens moving unit 3 c is connected to a driving motor 6 provided in the camera body 2 and is moved by receiving a driving force from the driving motor 6.

2 is a schematic diagram, the moving lens 3a and the fixed lens 3b are illustrated as a single lens, but the moving lens 3a and the fixed lens 3b are formed of a single lens or a lens group. Further, it is not essential that each of the moving lens 3a and the fixed lens 3b has a one-group configuration, and each of the two or more groups can be configured. Furthermore, as shown in the drawing, it is not essential that the moving lens 3a is a front group and the fixed lens 3b is a rear group, and various known group arrangements that can be employed as a photographing optical system can be employed.
The optical system of the photographic lens unit 3 may be a single focus optical system, or a multifocal or zoom optical system.

The camera body 2 is an apparatus portion excluding the taking lens unit 3 in the camera 1, and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped camera housing 2c as shown in FIG. 1, and a front surface portion that is a front side surface of the camera housing 2c. The photographic lens unit 3 is attached to substantially the center of the lens. The taking lens unit 3 may be attached to be exchangeable by an appropriate lens mount, or may be fixed so as not to be exchanged.
A liquid crystal monitor 9 that displays a captured image, an operation menu, and the like is mounted or movably supported on a rear surface portion that is a rear side surface of the camera housing 2c.

As shown in FIG. 2, the camera body 2 supplies driving force to an image sensor 5 (photographing unit) that photoelectrically converts an object image formed by the photographing lens unit 3 and a lens moving unit 3c. A drive motor 6 for moving the lens moving unit 3c and a control unit 7 for controlling the operation of each device part of the camera 1 are arranged.
Although not shown in FIG. 2, a photometric sensor 8 (see FIG. 4) is provided as a photometric unit for determining exposure. However, the photometric unit is not limited to the photometric sensor as long as the light quantity can be measured. For example, by calculating the light quantity of an appropriate part from the image data of the image sensor 5, the image sensor 5 is used as the photometric unit. It is also possible to use it.

  The imaging device 5 can employ, for example, an imaging device such as a CMOS device or a CCD, and is arranged at a position facing the photographing lens unit 3 on the photographing optical axis O.

The control unit 7 sets operating conditions of each unit of the camera 1 according to an operation input from a mode operation unit 2b described later, and an AF operation for the subject according to a half-press or full-press operation of a shutter button 2a described later. Control, automatic exposure (AE) control for determining exposure based on the output of the photometric sensor 8, photographing operation, and control for setting the light emission amount of the illumination unit 4 based on an illumination mode to be described later. . In this embodiment, the AF control in the camera 1 employs a well-known contrast method.
For this reason, the control unit 7 is communicably connected to the image sensor 5, the drive motor 6, a mode operation unit 2 b described later, the illumination unit 4, and a photometric sensor 8 (not shown).
The detailed configuration of the control unit 7 will be described later after other configurations are described.

A shutter button 2 a provided on the right side (left side in FIG. 1) of the camera 1 for performing operations related to shooting of the camera 1 and an operation of the camera 1 are provided on an upper surface portion which is an upper side surface of the camera housing 2 c. There is provided an operation dial that forms part of the mode operation unit 2b for performing operations related to mode setting.
For example, a liquid crystal monitor 9 that displays a captured image or an operation screen, an operation button that configures another device portion of the mode operation unit 2b, or the like is provided on the rear surface portion of the camera housing 2c that is not illustrated. Other well-known device parts are provided in the digital camera, such as an operation unit, an operation unit for performing device operations other than mode setting, and a USB terminal for performing data communication with an external device.
Examples of the operation unit for performing device operations other than mode setting include a moving image shooting button for starting and ending moving image shooting, and a zoom lever when having a zoom function.
Further, the mode operation unit 2b and other operation units may be provided with a touch panel on the liquid crystal monitor 9 to perform touch panel operations.

An illumination unit 4 for illuminating a subject is provided in the vicinity of the taking lens unit 3 on the front surface of the camera housing 2c.
The position of the illumination unit 4 is not particularly limited as long as the illumination light is not blocked by the photographing lens unit 3 and does not interfere with the holding of the camera body 2 by the photographer.
As an example, the illumination unit 4 in the present embodiment is located on the upper side of the front surface of the camera housing 2c and on the side opposite to the shutter button 2a across the photographing lens unit 3 (the left side of the camera 1, the right side in FIG. 1). It is provided in a rectangular area.

The illumination unit 4 includes nine LED light sources L _ij (where i = 1, 2, 3, j = 1, 2, 3) in the left and right direction and three in the vertical direction in the rectangular region. They are arranged in a grid of 3 rows and 3 columns. Hereinafter, when there is no possibility of misunderstanding, the display of the range of the subscript ij may be omitted.
The configuration of each LED light source L _ij is common, and as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, in this embodiment, the LED chip 4a made of white LED and the light flux from the LED chip 4a are collected. In order to shine, it is a white LED element with a lens provided with the lens part 4b provided so that LED chip 4a might be covered.
As shown in FIG. 4, each LED chip 4 a is electrically connected to an LED drive unit 4 d that controls the amount of light emission in accordance with a control signal from the control unit 7 described later. Thereby, the LED chip 4a can control independently the lighting and extinguishing operation and the light emission amount at the time of lighting for each LED light source _Lij .

  As the configuration of the LED chip 4a, for example, a configuration in which white light is formed by combining LED chips that emit three primary colors, a configuration in which white light is formed by combining a blue LED chip and a fluorescent material, or the like can be employed.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, each of these LED light sources L _ij is configured to irradiate illumination light toward any one of a plurality of illumination areas set in a dispersed manner within the imaging range. The radiation optical axis O _ij is held on the holding substrate 4c in a state of being inclined so as to open toward the subject.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the relationship between the imaging range _SW and the illumination area I _ij (where i = 1, 2, 3, j = 1, 2, 3) in the present embodiment.
The shooting range S _W (whole shooting range) is a space where the subject 1 can be focused and shot when the position of the camera 1 is fixed, and the field angle of the shooting lens unit 3 and the effective pixel area of the image sensor 5. It is a quadrangular frustum-shaped space centered on the photographing optical axis O determined by the shape of the image. In FIG. 5, a cross section perpendicular to the photographing optical axis O at a constant photographing distance is drawn. Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, a section of the imaging range S _W orthogonal to the photographing optical axis O, simply referred to as the cross-section of the imaging range S _W.
In the present embodiment, the cross section of the imaging range S _W is a longitudinal cross-section (shown lateral direction) and the transverse direction a total of nine partial areas S _ij where (shown vertical direction) respectively 3 equally divided _(where, i = 1 , 2, 3, j = 1, 2, 3, and shooting area).
Partial region S _11, the longitudinal horizontal cross section of the imaging range S _W, when setting the lateral direction in the vertical direction, as viewed from the photographer is located in the upper left corner of the imaging range S _W, to the right Partial regions S ₁₂ and S ₁₃ are adjacent to each other in this order.
The partial areas S ₂₁ , S ₂₂ , S ₂₃ are adjacent to the lower side of the partial areas S ₁₁ , S ₁₂ , S ₁₃ , respectively, and the partial areas S ₃₁ , S ₃₂ , S ₃₃ are respectively the partial areas S ₂₁ , S _22. , adjacent to the lower side of the _{S 23.}
Illumination area _{I ij} is effective illumination range of the illumination light emitted from the LED light source _{L ij,} on the cross section of the imaging range _{S W,} having a size to cover a partial region _{S ij.} Here, the effective illumination range is a region where the radiation intensity of the illumination light when the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij is maximized is 50% to 100% of the maximum value.
For this reason, in this embodiment, when each LED light source L _ij is all turned on with the maximum light emission amount, each partial area S _ij when the shooting distance is fixed is illuminated with substantially equal brightness.

Next, a detailed configuration of the control unit 7 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 7 includes a photographing control unit 10, an image acquisition unit 11, an image processing unit 12, a storage unit 13, an exposure amount measurement unit 14, and a light emission amount control unit 15.

The imaging control unit 10 sets the operating conditions of each unit of the camera 1 according to the operation input from the mode operation unit 2b, and performs the entire imaging operation of the camera 1 according to the half-pressing or full-pressing operation of the shutter button 2a. It is something to control. The operation control performed by the imaging control unit 10 includes at least AF operation control, AE operation control, and light emission amount control of the illumination unit 4.
The photographing control unit 10 is communicably connected to at least the mode operation unit 2b, the shutter button 2a, the photometric sensor 8, the drive motor 6, the image acquisition unit 11, the storage unit 13, the exposure amount measurement unit 14, and the light emission amount control unit 15. Has been.
Further, it is electrically connected to a shutter (not shown). As the shutter of the camera 1, a known mechanical or electronic shutter can be adopted.

The AF control performed by the imaging control unit 10 is started by half-pressing the shutter button 2a. That is, in this embodiment, by driving the drive motor 6 and moving the moving lens 3a, the focal position of the photographing lens unit 3 is moved to infinity, the focal position is moved toward the closest side, At the moving position, the image contrast of the image data sent from the image processing unit 12 is calculated, and the in-focus position is calculated by the hill climbing method.
In the present embodiment, a plurality of AF targets are set within the photographing range, and a focus calculation area is set around the AF target position. Then, the image contrast is calculated for each focus calculation area, and the focus position is calculated by the hill climbing method. The calculated in-focus position is stored in the storage unit 13 together with the AF target position information as shooting distance information.

The AE control by the photographing control unit 10 starts operation when the shutter button 2a is half-pressed, acquires a photometric value in one or more photometric targets from the photometric sensor 8 which is the photometric unit of the present embodiment, and is a program diagram. Determine the exposure based on.
For example, when the photometry unit is the image sensor 5, the imaging control unit 10 acquires image data acquired by an image acquisition unit 11 to be described later, and the light amount of an appropriate part within the imaging range from the image data. Photometry is performed by calculating.

  The image acquisition unit 11 acquires image data photoelectrically converted by the image sensor 5, and is communicably connected to the image sensor 5, the exposure amount measurement unit 14, and the imaging control unit 10.

The image processing unit 12 performs various types of image processing and arithmetic processing on the image data acquired by the image acquisition unit 11, and communicates with the image acquisition unit 11, the imaging control unit 10, the storage unit 13, and the liquid crystal monitor 9, respectively. Connected as possible.
Examples of image processing performed by the image processing unit 12 include image processing for adjusting image quality such as well-known gain correction, white balance adjustment, gamma correction, noise reduction processing, contour correction, and compression processing. .
The white balance adjustment is image processing for adjusting the white balance based on the mode setting of the white balance control, similarly to a known digital camera.
The image data that has been subjected to image processing is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 9 and stored in the storage unit 13 as necessary.

Further, the arithmetic processing performed by the image processing unit 12 includes arithmetic processing for detecting the position of the main subject from the image data.
In the present embodiment, when a person's face is shown in the shooting scene, the person is detected as a main subject. Therefore, by performing face detection from the image data, the face detection position it is determined processing belongs to the partial region S _ij of the photographing range S _W throat is enabled.
As the face detection means, for example, a well-known configuration in which a Haar-like detector that efficiently detects a characteristic light-dark difference appearing around the eyes and nose muscles and a multistage filter (cascade) process may be employed. it can.

The exposure amount measuring unit 14 measures the exposure amount from the partial region S _ij corresponding to the illumination region I _ij .
In the present embodiment, the image data of the partial area S _ij corresponding to the illumination area I _ij is acquired from the image acquisition unit 11, and the exposure amount from the partial area S _ij is measured by calculating this image data.
Image data of the partial region S _ij may obtain the entire partial area S _ij, may acquire a part of the partial region S _ij.
For example, in the partial area S _ij , the illumination light overlaps with the boundary with the other partial areas. Therefore, by removing such peripheral image data, the correlation with the exposure amount by the LED light source L _ij is obtained. Can measure a high exposure amount.
Further, the calculation processing for calculating the exposure amount from the image data is not particularly limited as long as the exposure amount of the subject in the partial region S _ij can be appropriately acquired. For example, examples include a simple averaging process, a weighted averaging process, a process for obtaining a maximum value, and a process for extracting and averaging image data having a predetermined ratio or more with respect to the maximum value.

The light emission amount control unit 15 individually controls the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij based on the measurement result of the exposure amount by the exposure amount measurement unit 14.
The light emission amount control unit 15 is communicably connected to the exposure amount measurement unit 14 and the LED drive unit 4d.

Details of the control performed by the control unit 7 having such a configuration will be described later along with the overall operation of the camera 1.
The device configuration of the control unit 7 includes a computer including a CPU, a memory, an input / output interface, an external storage device, and the like, thereby executing an appropriate control program for performing the control described above and below. .

Next, the operation of the camera 1 will be described focusing on the photographing method of the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of a photographing method by the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 7A and 7B are a schematic diagram illustrating a pixel area on the image sensor of the imaging apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a subject. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow of the AF operation of the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a timing chart of the pre-light emission and the main light emission of the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 10A and 10B are schematic graphs showing an example of the measurement result of the exposure amount and an example of the setting of the light emission amount of the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 10A, the horizontal axis indicates the pixel area P _ij and the vertical axis indicates the exposure amount E _ij . In FIG. 10B, the horizontal axis indicates the pixel area P _ij and the vertical axis indicates the light emission amount J _ij . FIG. 11 is a schematic graph showing an example of a change in exposure amount between pre-light emission and main light emission of the photographing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 11, the horizontal axis represents the time t, and the vertical axis represents the exposure amount represented by 8 bits (0 to 255).

In the camera 1, regarding the operation of the illumination unit 4, in addition to a known illumination mode (hereinafter referred to as an overall mode) for controlling the overall light emission amount (including the case where no light is emitted) and the light emission timing of the illumination unit 4, An illumination mode (hereinafter referred to as a light amount distribution correction mode) in which the light emission amount of each LED light source L _ij is individually set and the light amount distribution of the illumination light is corrected according to the light reflection characteristics determined by the surface state and reflectance of the subject. ).
The names of all known modes differ depending on the manufacturer. For example, the “auto flash” mode that automatically fires when underexposure occurs, the “red-eye reduction” mode that pre-flashes before the main flash to reduce red-eye, and forced "Forced flash" mode for flashing, "Red-eye / Forced flash" mode for forced flash after preliminary flash, "Flash off" mode for prohibiting flash, "Slow sync" mode for flashing at low shutter speed, Examples include an “AF illuminator” mode that emits light during the AF operation so that the AF operation can be performed even in dark conditions.
The light amount distribution correction mode in the present embodiment is set in combination with the overall mode as necessary, and includes a leveling mode and a subject enhancement mode.

In the leveling mode, the light emission amount of each LED light source L _ij corresponding to the plurality of illumination regions I _ij is set so that the exposure amount from the partial region S _ij is substantially uniform (including a uniform case). it makes it suppresses illumination mode crushed overexposure or black in the imaging range S _W.

In the subject emphasis mode, among the plurality of illumination areas I _ij , another illumination area I that does not include the in-focus part in the subject, with the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij in the illumination area I _ij including the in-focus part in the subject _This is an illumination mode that is set so that the light emission amount of the LED light source L _{ij in ij} is lowered. This has the effect of raising the in-focus portion of the subject from the surroundings, and an image in which the subject is emphasized can be taken.
A single default value or a multi-stage default value may be adopted as the exposure amount reduction amount. Further, the LED light source L _ij corresponding to the illumination area I _ij that does not include the in-focus portion may not emit light, and the light emission amount may be zero.

Hereinafter, as an example, a description will be given of an imaging method when the illumination mode setting is a combination of the “auto flash” mode and the leveling mode. In the “auto flash” mode, as is well known, when a proper exposure can be obtained without causing the illumination unit 4 to emit light, shooting is performed without causing the illumination unit 4 to emit light. Therefore, an example of a flow in the case where natural light is underexposed and the illumination unit 4 emits light will be described.
In this case, the photographing operation by the camera 1 is performed by executing steps S1 to S13 according to the flow shown in FIG.
Camera 1, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), the imaging surface 5a of the imaging element 5, corresponds to the partial region _{S ij} of the photographing range _{S W,} a total of nine pixels area _{P ij} (although, i = 1 , 2, 3, j = 1, 2, 3), the contrast of the image data of each pixel area _Pij is evaluated, and this is used as the focus evaluation value.
In the present embodiment, each pixel area P _ij is also an area for acquiring image data for obtaining an exposure amount.

In the following description, it is assumed that the image shown in FIG. 7B is projected on the imaging surface 5a as a shooting scene.
In this shooting scene, a subject O ₁ made of a person wearing black clothes stands on the right side of the screen, and a subject O ₂ having a higher reflectance than the face of the subject O ₁ on the left side of the screen _, for example, FIG. (b) the snowman is aligned with the object _{O 1.}
In the subject O ₁ , a face that is a part that relatively easily reflects illumination light is located in the pixel area P ₁₃ . The entire subject O ₂ has a high reflectivity and appears mainly in the pixel areas P ₁₁ , P ₂₁ , P ₃₁ , and P ₃₂ .

When the power is turned on, the camera 1 starts moving image shooting, and the captured moving image is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 9, and shooting is possible. Steps S1 to S13 shown in FIG. 6 are executed according to the flow shown in FIG. Thus, a still image is taken.
As shown in FIG. 6, in step S1, the photographer holds the camera 1 facing the subjects O ₁ and O ₂ . When the subjects O ₁ and O ₂ are framed, the photographer presses the shutter button 2a halfway. Thereby, the AF operation is started by the control unit 7.

Step S2 is a step for performing an AF operation.
Step S2 is performed by executing steps S21 to S24 according to the flow shown in FIG.

Step S21 is a step of setting the focal position to infinity.
The photographing control unit 10 sends a control signal for moving the lens moving unit 3c to the drive motor 6 so that the focal position of the photographing lens unit 3 is at infinity.
The drive motor 6 drives the lens moving unit 3c to move the moving lens 3a to the image side.
Above, step S21 is complete | finished.

Next, step S22 is performed. This step is a step of starting the focal position movement toward the closest position.
That is, the imaging control unit 10 sends a control signal to the drive motor 6 so that the focal position of the imaging lens unit 3 starts to move toward the closest position.
The drive motor 6 drives the lens moving unit 3c to move the moving lens 3a to the object side. The amount of movement of the moving lens 3 a is measured by, for example, an encoder output of the drive motor 6 and sent to the imaging control unit 10.

When the moving lens 3a starts moving, step S23 is performed. This step is a step of searching for the in-focus position by the contrast method.
That is, the imaging control unit 10 acquires image data captured from the image sensor 5 and calculates the contrast of the image for each pixel area P _ij .
This contrast shows a mountain-shaped change in which the contrast increases from a low state as it goes from the infinity side to the close side, and then decreases after reaching the peak value corresponding to the position of the subject.
At this time, the image data is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 9 each time.

The imaging control unit 10 checks the change in contrast for each pixel area P _ij , and if a peak is detected, stores the position of the moving lens 3 a at the peak position and the subject distance converted from this in the memory.
When it is detected that the contrast peak has been exceeded in all the pixel areas P _ij or the moving lens 3a has moved to the movement limit on the closest side, the imaging control unit 10 stops the operation to the drive motor 6. A control signal is sent.
Above, step S23 is complete | finished.

Next, step S24 is performed. This step is a step of determining a focus position for photographing and a focus area corresponding to the focus position.
In this embodiment, the contrast peak positions of the acquired pixel areas P _ij are compared, the closest peak position corresponds to the in-focus position, and this peak position corresponds to the detected pixel area P _ij . determining a partial area _{S ij} of the photographing range _{S W} as focusing area. This is because the main subject is often photographed with being placed on the close side.
For example, in the case of the shooting scene shown in FIG. 7B, since the subjects O ₁ and O ₂ are arranged at substantially the same shooting distance, for example, the in-focus position is determined at the closest position of one of the subjects. .
The in-focus area is stored in the storage unit 13.
This is the end of step S2.

  Depending on the shooting distance and AF accuracy, a plurality of in-focus areas may be determined. In this case, as the method for determining the in-focus position for photographing, all the methods for determining the in-focus position for photographing in the conventional multi-area AF can be adopted.

Next, step S3 is performed. This step is a step of determining exposure by performing an AE operation.
The imaging control unit 10 acquires the output of the photometric sensor 8 and performs AE in the in-focus area. When there are a plurality of in-focus areas, multi-area AE is performed.
Thereby, exposure is determined based on the program diagram corresponding to the preset AE mode.
In this case, the "Auto Flash" mode, when the photometric value is too small, thereby emitting the illumination unit to compensate for the underexposure is determined, depending on the exposure shortage amount, the light emission amount J ₀ is determined . The light emission time of the illumination unit 4 is determined by the shutter opening time corresponding to the shutter speed.
In this manner, the ISO sensitivity, aperture value, shutter speed, and light emission amount of the illumination unit 4 in shooting are set.
This is the end of step S3.

Next, step S4 is performed. This step is a step for performing face detection.
Face detection is performed by performing image processing on image data in a state where the moving lens 3a is moved to the in-focus position and focused.
For this reason, the imaging control unit 10 sends a control signal to the image acquisition unit 11 to acquire an image at the in-focus position from the image sensor 5.
In addition, the imaging control unit 10 sends a control signal to the image processing unit 12 to start face detection based on the image acquired by the image acquisition unit 11.
When the image processing unit 12 acquires the focused image data from the image acquisition unit 11, the image processing unit 12 sets a face detection window of a certain size, and combines the Haar-like detector and the multistage filter (cascade) processing. Based on the face detection algorithm, face detection is performed within the face detection window. When a face is detected, the size of the face area and the center position are calculated and stored in the storage unit 13. When face detection ends within one face detection window, the position of the face detection window is moved, and this is repeated over the entire photographing range.
Furthermore, by changing the size of the face detection window and repeating the same processing, faces of different sizes are detected.
Thus, for example, in the case of a shooting scene shown in FIG. 7 (b), primarily, it is detected that the face exists in the pixel area P _13.
The image acquisition unit 11 sends information on whether or not a face is detected and information on a pixel area where the face is mainly present to the imaging control unit 10 when a face is detected.
Above, step S4 is complete | finished.

Next, in step S5, the imaging control unit 10 enters a loop for monitoring whether or not the shutter button 2a is fully pressed, and determines whether or not the shutter button 2a is fully pressed.
If the shutter button 2a is fully pressed, the process exits the monitoring loop and proceeds to step S6.

Next, in step S6, the imaging control unit 10 opens the shutter in a state where the ISO sensitivity and the aperture are matched with the exposure conditions determined in step S3. As shown in FIG. 9, the shutter open start time in this step and the time t _0.
This is the end of step S6.

Next, step S7 is performed. This step is a step of causing each LED light source L _ij to pre-emit for a certain time with a certain light emission amount.
Photographing control unit 10, the exposure amount measuring section 14 sends out the light emission amount J ₀ of the LED light source L _ij determined by the exposure condition determined in step S3, sends a control signal to start the exposure measurement.
Exposure amount measuring unit 14, the light emission amount J ₀ sent from the photographing control unit 10 sends out the light emission amount control unit 15, together to start emitting the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij as J _0, the image acquisition The image data is acquired from the image sensor 5 by the unit 11.
The light emission amount control unit 15 causes each LED light source L _ij to emit light from time t ₀ to time t ₁ .
Pre-emission time (t 1 _{-t 0)} may or long until the shutter open time T _P or more shutter is closed by the step S8 to be described later, in this embodiment, the pre-emission time, the shutter opening time T _P Synchronized with.
It shutters open time T _P, to the extent that the difference in the exposure amount in each partial area S _ij can be measured accurately can be set as appropriate. However, in all the pixel areas P _ij , a sufficiently short time is set as compared with the shutter speed determined from the appropriate exposure so as not to reach the saturation exposure amount. For example, the shutter speed, if the 1/100 sec (10 ms), the shutter opening time _{T P} is about 1ms is preferably used.

FIG. 9 shows, as an example, a timing chart of the light amount control of the LED light sources L ₁₃ and L ₂₁ .
LED light source _{L 13} is for irradiating illumination light to the partial region _{S 13} corresponding to the pixel area _{P 13} a face is detected.
The LED light source L ₂₁ irradiates illumination light to the partial region S ₂₁ corresponding to the pixel area P ₂₁ where the subject O ₂ with high light reflection characteristics is imaged.
In the pre-light emission, each LED light source L _ij emits light with the same light emission amount J ₀ , and therefore the light emission amounts of the LED light sources L ₁₃ and L ₂₁ are also J ₀ .

At time _{t 1,} LED light source _{L ij} is turned off at the same time as the step S7 is completed, step S8 is executed.
Step S8 is a step in which the imaging control unit 10 closes the shutter.
When the shutter is closed, the imaging control unit 10 sends the image data acquired from the image sensor 5 by the image acquisition unit 11 to the exposure amount measurement unit 14, and information on the focus area and the pixel area where the face is detected. (Referred to as a face detection area) is sent to the exposure amount measurement unit 14.
Above, step S8 is complete | finished.

Next, in step S9, the exposure amount measurement unit 14 measures the exposure amount from each partial region _Sij in the pre-emission.
In the present embodiment, the exposure amount measurement unit 14 measures the exposure amount by calculating the luminance value of the pixel area corresponding to the exposure amount from the partial region. For example, the exposure amount measurement unit 14 calculates the average luminance of the pixel area P _ij corresponding to each partial region S _ij based on the transmitted image data, and sets it as the exposure amount E _ij .

An example of the measurement result of the exposure amount E _{ij in} the case of the shooting scene shown in FIG. 7B is shown in FIG.
For example, the pixel areas P ₁₁ , P ₂₁ , P ₃₁ , and P ₃₂ have high exposure amounts, and the pixel areas P ₂₃ , P ₃₃ have low exposure amounts, and the pixel areas P ₁₂ , P ₁₃ , exposure of P ₂₂ is turned between.
The measurement result is sent to the light emission amount control unit 15 together with information on the focus area and the face detection area sent from the imaging control unit 10.
Above, step S9 is complete | finished.

Next, step S10 is performed. This step is a step of calculating the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij with the exposure amount at the time T _S corresponding to the shutter speed being the exposure amount corresponding to the appropriate exposure based on the measurement result of the exposure amount in step S9. is there.

The shutter opening time T _P of the pre-light emission, the luminance value of the image data by the imaging device 5 is captured are the intensity of the illumination light of the return light at a constant light emission amount, the partial regions S _ij of the photographing range S _W Represents the light reflection characteristics of the subject.
For example, as shown in FIG. 11, when an example of the exposure amount calculated with the average luminance in the pixel areas P ₁₃ and P ₂₁ is indicated by straight lines 101 and 102, the exposure amount of the pixel area P ₂₁ onto which the image of the subject O ₂ is projected. it is larger than the pixel area P ₁₃ where the image of the object O ₁ is projected.
That is, if light emission with a light emission amount J ₀ continues for a time T _S corresponding to a shutter speed longer than the shutter opening time T _P of the pre-light emission, for example, as indicated by a broken line 104 in the pixel area P _13. The saturation exposure amount (255) is reached, resulting in an overexposed image.
In contrast, in the pixel area P _21, for example, as shown in solid line 103, so that the exposure amount of about half the saturated exposure amount (128), and the appropriate exposure amount is obtained.

Therefore, in this step, the light emission amount control unit 15 calculates the light emission amount J _ij of the LED light source L _ij from the exposure amount E _ij of each pixel area P _ij sent from the exposure amount measurement unit 14 by the following equation (1). calculate.

Here, E _f is the exposure amount by pre-emission of the in-focus area estimated as the main subject. In the present embodiment, since the main subject is estimated by face detection, the exposure amount of the pixel area where the face is detected in the in-focus area is employed.
When there are a plurality of such pixel areas, for example, the average of the exposure amounts can be adopted, or the exposure amount of the pixel area located closest to the pixel area can be determined.
For example, in the example shown in FIG. 7 (b), since the face is detected only in the pixel area _{P 13,} an _E f ₌ E _13.
Above, step S10 is complete | finished.

FIG. 10B shows an example of the calculation result of the light emission amount J _ij in the shooting scene shown in FIG.
For example, the light emission amount of the pixel area _{P 13} is _{J 0,} the light emission amount of the pixel area _{P 12, P 22} is substantially equal to _{J 0,} than the pixel area _{P 11, P 21, P 31} , the _{P 32 J 0} The pixel areas P ₂₃ and P ₃₃ are reduced and increased from J ₀ .

  Thus, steps S6 to S10 are steps for performing pre-emission control for measuring the exposure amount.

Next, steps S11 to S13 to be performed are steps in which the illumination unit 4 is controlled to perform main light emission and shooting is performed.
In step S11, the imaging control unit 10 opens the shutter in a state where the ISO sensitivity, the aperture, and the shutter speed are matched with the exposure conditions determined in step S3.
In the following, as shown in FIG. 9, the shutter opening start time of this step the time _{t 2} (provided _{that, t} 2> t ₁₎ and then, the shutter speed and _{T S.}
Above, step S11 is complete | finished.

Step S12 is a step of performing imaging by causing each LED light source L _ij to emit light with the light emission amount J _ij calculated in step S10.
The photographing control unit 10 sends a control signal for starting the main light emission to the light emission amount control unit 15 at the same time when the shutter is opened.
The light emission amount control unit 15 causes the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij to be J _ij and emits light from time t ₂ to time t ₃ .
Here, the main light emission time (t ₃ -t ₂ ) may be equal to or higher than the shutter speed T _S until the shutter is closed. In the present embodiment, the main light emission time is synchronized with the shutter speed T _S. Yes.

Therefore, in this step, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, in the main light emission, the light emission amount J of the LED light source L ₁₃ that irradiates the partial area S ₁₃ corresponding to the pixel area P ₁₃ in which the face is detected is irradiated. ₁₃ is the same _{J 0} and pre-emission.
Further, the light emission amount J ₂₁ of the LED light source L ₂₁ that irradiates illumination light to the partial region S ₂₁ corresponding to the pixel area P ₂₁ where the subject O ₂ with high light reflection characteristics is imaged is light based on the measurement result of the exposure amount. depending on the reflection characteristics, it is set lower than J _0.
For this reason, as shown in FIG. 10, the change in the exposure amount in this step shows the same change in the pixel areas P ₁₃ and P ₂₁ as schematically shown by the solid line 103, at the time t ₃ . The exposure amount is an appropriate exposure amount that is approximately half of the saturated exposure amount.
As a result, the image of the pixel area P ₂₁ will no overexposure image.
Further, the exposure measurement, the partial area exposure is too low, because a large amount of light emission is set than J ₀ based on the equation (1), the image underexposure has been eliminated.

At time _{t 3,} LED light source _{L ij} is turned off at the same time as the step S12 is completed, step S13 is executed.
Step S13 is a step in which the imaging control unit 10 closes the shutter.
When the shutter is closed, the imaging control unit 10 sends the image data acquired from the image sensor 5 by the image acquisition unit 11 to the image processing unit 12.
The image processing unit 12 performs appropriate image processing on the transmitted image data and stores it in the storage unit 13 and displays it on the liquid crystal monitor 9.
Thus, step S13 is completed, and photographing that is a combination of the “auto flash” mode and the leveling mode is completed.
Steps S <b> 10 to S <b> 13 are steps in which shooting is performed by correcting the light amount distribution of the illumination light by individually controlling the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij based on the measurement result of the exposure amount in step S <b> 9. .

Since the image captured by the camera 1 as described above has the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij in the main light emission as J _ij , the exposure amount of each pixel area P _ij corresponding thereto is the main subject. Is substantially equal to the exposure amount of the in-focus area where the face is detected (including the case where it is equal).
For this reason, according to the camera 1, even if there is a variation in light reflection characteristics between subjects, it is possible to perform flash photography in which overexposure and underexposure are unlikely to occur.

It should be noted that photographing that is a combination of the “auto flash” mode and the subject enhancement mode can be performed in substantially the same manner.
However, in the subject emphasis mode, only the following formula (2) is used in place of the above formula (1) in step S10.

Here, k _ij is a coefficient of 0 or more and less than 1 corresponding to a reduction amount determined according to the distance from the focusing area where the subject is emphasized.

[First Modification]
Next, a photographing apparatus according to a first modification of the present embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 2, the camera 21 of the present modification includes a control unit 27 instead of the control unit 7 of the camera 1 of the first embodiment.
Hereinafter, a description will be given centering on differences from the first embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the control unit 27 replaces the shooting control unit 10, the exposure amount measurement unit 14, and the light emission amount control unit 15 of the control unit 7 of the first embodiment, and includes a shooting control unit 30 and an exposure amount. A measurement unit 34 and a light emission amount control unit 35 are provided.
The control unit 27 measures the exposure amount during photographing while the control unit 7 of the first embodiment performs pre-emission and measures the exposure amount before photographing with the main light emission. The difference is that the amount of light emission is changed.
For this reason, the light emission amount control part 35 can change the light emission amount of each LED light source _Lij during imaging _| photography.

Next, the operation of the camera 21 will be described focusing on the imaging method of the first modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a flow of a photographing method by the photographing apparatus of the first modified example of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a timing chart showing the control of the light emission amount during photographing by the photographing apparatus of the first modification example of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 is a schematic graph showing an example of a change in exposure amount during photographing by the photographing apparatus of the first modified example of the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 14, the horizontal axis represents time t, and the vertical axis represents the exposure amount represented by 8 bits (0 to 255).

In the following description, an illumination mode similar to that in the first embodiment and an example of a similar subject will be described.
When the power is turned on, the camera 21 starts to shoot a moving image, the captured moving image is displayed on the liquid crystal monitor 9, and shooting is possible, and steps S31 to S41 shown in FIG. 12 are executed according to the flow shown in FIG. Thus, a still image is taken.

  Steps S31 to S35 are the same steps as steps S1 to S5 in the first embodiment.

Next, in step S36, the imaging control unit 30 opens the shutter in a state where the ISO sensitivity, aperture, and shutter speed match the exposure conditions determined in step S33.
In the following, as shown in FIG. 13, the shutter opening start time in this step and the time t _10, the shutter speed and T _S.
Above, step S36 is complete | finished.

Next, step S37 is performed. This step is a step of causing each LED light source L _ij to emit light with a constant light emission amount.
The imaging control unit 30 sends a light emission amount J ₀ of each LED light source L _ij determined from the exposure condition determined in step S33 to the exposure amount measurement unit 34 and a control signal for starting exposure amount measurement.
Exposure amount measuring unit 34, the light emission amount J ₀ sent from the imaging control unit 30 sends out the light emission amount control unit 15, together to start emitting the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij as J _0, the image acquisition The image data is acquired from the image sensor 5 by the unit 11.
The light emission amount control unit 35 causes each LED light source L _ij to emit light from time t ₁₀ to time t ₁₁ .
Above, step S37 is complete | finished.

Next, step S38 is performed. This step is a step in which the exposure amount measurement unit 34 measures the exposure amount from each partial region S _{ij with} a constant light emission amount in the initial stage of photographing.
This step is in accordance with the shutter speed T _S, it is carried out between the first embodiment and the measurement time T _m that is determined in the same manner. That is, the time _{t 11} to the end of the step S38, as shown in FIG. 13, which is in the early stages of shooting from the time _{t 10} to the measuring time _{T m.} This initial stage is set so that no pixel area P _ij reaches the saturation exposure amount.
In the present embodiment, the exposure amount measurement unit 34 measures the exposure amount by calculating the luminance value of the pixel area corresponding to the exposure amount from the partial area, as in the first embodiment. For example, the exposure amount measuring unit 34 calculates the average luminance of the pixel area P _ij corresponding to each partial region S _ij based on the transmitted image data, and sets it as the exposure amount E _ij .

Measurement time the T _m may be the same as the shutter opening time T _P of the first embodiment, it may be different. In the following, as an _example, it is described in example when _T m = T _P.
In this case, the exposure amount E _{ij in} the case of the shooting scene shown in FIG. 7B is the same as the exposure amount measured by the pre-emission of the first embodiment (see FIG. 10A).
This measurement result is sent to the light emission amount control unit 35 together with information on the focus area and the face detection area sent from the imaging control unit 30.
Above, step S38 is complete | finished.

Next, step S39 is performed. This step is a step of calculating the light emission amount of the LED light source L _{ij at which} the exposure amount at the time T _S corresponding to the shutter speed becomes the exposure amount corresponding to the appropriate exposure based on the measurement result of the exposure amount in step S38. is there.

An example of the change in exposure amount in this step is shown by straight lines 201 and 202a in FIG.
Straight 201 is exposure of the pixel area _{P 13,} at time _{t 11} and linearly increases from the time _{t 10,} becomes _{E 13.}
Straight 202a is exposure of the pixel area _{P 21,} at time _{t 11} and linearly increases from the time _{t 10, E 21 (although, E 21>} E ₁₃₎ becomes.
Remains of the light-emitting amount, when the light emitting until time _{t 12,} the exposure amount in the pixel area _{P 13,} as shown by the straight line 201, becomes a proper exposure amount _{e 13,} the exposure amount in the pixel area _{P 21} is as indicated by the dashed line 203, before reaching the time t _11, it will reach the saturation exposure.
Therefore, in this step, the light emission amount control unit 35 calculates a correction value J _ij ′ of the light emission amount of each LED light source L _ij based on the following equation (3).

Here, E _f is an exposure amount selected in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and in this embodiment, E _f = E ₁₃ as an example.
The formula (3), the exposure amount _{e ij} at time _{t 12} at each pixel area _{P ij} is calculated from the equal conditions to the exposure amount _{e 13} of the pixel area _{P 13} selected as _{E f.} However, it is assumed that the reflectance of the subject corresponding to the pixel area P _ij does not change even if the light emission amount changes.
Above, step S39 is complete | finished.

According to the equation (3), at time _{t 11,} even when the exposure amount is different from the _{E f,} between the time _{t 11} to time _{t 12} the shutter is closed, by emitting a modified value _{J ij} ', the exposure amount at the time t ₁₂ in the pixel area P _ij, can be exposure substantially matches the pixel area P _ij where the main subject is projected (including the case that matches).
Since the graph is substantially the same as in FIG. 10B, the illustration is omitted, but the light emission amount J _ij ′ in the shooting scene shown in FIG. 7B is, for example, the light emission amount of the pixel area P ₁₃ is J ₀ . Yes, the light emission amounts of the pixel areas P ₁₂ and P ₂₂ are substantially equal to J _{0. The} pixel areas P ₁₁ , P ₂₁ , P ₃₁ , and P ₃₂ are reduced from J _{0. In} the pixel areas P ₂₃ and P ₃₃ , J Increased above _zero .
Thus, step S39 is completed.

Next, step S40 is performed. In this step, the amount of light emitted from the LED light source L _ij is changed to the corrected value J _ij ′ and the imaging is continued.
The light emission amount control unit 35 changes the light emission amount of each LED light source L _ij from J ₀ to a correction value J _ij ′. Thereby, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, for example, in the pixel area P ₂₁ where the exposure amount E ₂₁ is measured, the light emission amount is corrected to the correction value J ₂₁ ′, and the exposure amount increases as shown by the straight line 202b. Will slow down.
As a result, the exposure amount of the pixel area _{P 21} at time _{t 12} includes an exposure amount _{e 13} of the pixel area _{P 13} remains correction value _{J 13} 'is _{J 0,} (including the case same) substantially the same exposure amount _{e 21} become.
At time _{t 12,} step S40 is completed, the imaging control unit 10, step S41 is executed.

Step S41 is a step in which the imaging control unit 30 closes the shutter.
When the shutter is closed, the imaging control unit 30 sends the image data acquired from the image sensor 5 by the image acquisition unit 11 to the image processing unit 12.
The image processing unit 12 performs appropriate image processing on the transmitted image data and stores it in the storage unit 13 and displays it on the liquid crystal monitor 9.
Thus, step S41 is completed, and photographing that is a combination of the “auto flash” mode and the leveling mode is completed.

In the image captured as described above, the light emission amount of the LED light source L _ij in the main light emission is changed to the correction value J _ij ′ based on the measurement result of the exposure amount after the measurement of the exposure amount. The exposure amount of each pixel area _ij corresponding to these becomes substantially equal to the exposure amount of the in-focus area where the face that is the main subject is detected (including the case where they are equal).
For this reason, according to the camera 21, it is possible to perform flash photography in which overexposure and underexposure are unlikely to occur even when the light reflection characteristics vary between subjects.
According to the present embodiment, determined by the shooting time shutter speed T _S, for performing a light emission amount of modification and measurement of exposure, can be carried out rapidly shooting.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a photographing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 15 is a schematic front view showing a photographing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  The camera 41 (photographing device) of the present embodiment includes a camera main body 42 (photographing unit) instead of the camera main body 2 of the camera 1 of the first embodiment, and is detachably provided on the camera main body 42. A part 44 is added. Hereinafter, a description will be given centering on differences from the first embodiment.

The camera main body 42 deletes the illumination unit 4 of the camera 1 of the first embodiment, communicates with the hot shoe 42c that connects the illumination unit 44 so as to be detachable and communicable, and the control unit 7 to measure the subject distance. A distance measuring unit 48 that is connected as possible is added.
As the configuration of the distance measuring unit 48, an appropriate active type or passive type distance measuring unit that can be used for AF can be adopted. In the present embodiment, as an example, an external light passive system including two light receiving lenses 48a arranged apart from each other and an image sensor 48b that detects a phase difference between light beams collected by the respective light receiving lenses 48a is adopted. ing.
The distance measuring unit 48 is provided on the front surface of the camera body 2c of the camera body 42 where the photographing lens unit 3 is provided.

The illumination unit 44 includes a total of 25 LED chips 4a arranged on a substrate in a 5 × 5 lattice shape, and a Fresnel lens 44b having a negative refractive power arranged so as to cover the light emitting surface of these LED chips 4a. And a connection portion 44c for connecting the main body portion 44a to the hot shoe 42c of the camera main body 42 so as to be detachable and communicable.
Moreover, the illumination part 44 is provided with the LED drive part 4d which is the light emission amount control part similar to the illumination part 4, as shown in FIG.
Illumination light from the LED chips 4a by the illumination unit 44 is not particularly shown, through a Fresnel lens 44b, it is irradiated toward the one of the grid-shaped divided partial areas of the cross-section of 5 × 5 of the imaging range S _W , thereby, similarly to the illumination section 4 of the first embodiment, it becomes possible to illuminate the entire photographing range S _W. For this reason, each LED chip 4a and the Fresnel lens 44b constitute a plurality of LED light sources.

According to the camera 41 having such a configuration, when the AF control is performed by measuring the subject distance using the distance measuring unit 48 and the illumination unit 44 is mounted on the hot shoe 42c of the camera body 42, the illumination is performed. Based on the number and arrangement of the LED light sources of the unit 44, the shooting range is divided into 25 and the light emission amount of the LED light sources corresponding to the respective partial areas is controlled in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In addition, it is possible to perform shooting in which the illumination mode is matched with the leveling mode or the subject enhancement mode.
For this reason, according to the illumination unit 44, as with the first embodiment, even if there is a variation in light reflection characteristics between subjects, it is possible to perform flash photography in which overexposure and underexposure are unlikely to occur.

In the above description of each embodiment and modification, the exposure amount measurement unit 14 has been described as an example in which the exposure amount is measured from the captured image. However, the photometric sensor corresponds to each pixel area P _ij. The exposure amount may be measured by the output of these photometric sensors. In this case, the photometric sensor can also be configured to double as an AE photometric sensor.

In the description of each of the embodiments and the modifications described above, an example in which the light level distribution correction mode includes the leveling mode and the subject enhancement mode has been described. However, the light amount distribution correction mode is not limited to these. That is, in addition to the leveling mode and the subject enhancement mode, for example, it is possible to provide another light amount distribution correction mode that realizes an appropriate light amount distribution depending on the drawing intention or the like.
For example, an appropriate pixel area other than the face detected or a subject area, the light amount distribution correction mode in which the exposure amount decreases or increases toward the periphery, or a pixel area in which the exposure amount is larger than the in-focus area An example of a light amount distribution correction mode that suppresses the exposure amount at a constant ratio can be given.

  In the description of each of the embodiments and the modifications described above, an example in which AE is performed to determine an appropriate exposure has been described. However, the exposure may be determined manually, and in this case, the “appropriate” exposure is The photographer decides according to the purpose of drawing.

  In the description of each of the embodiments and the modification examples described above, the case where the exposure amount of the face detection area is approximately half of the saturated exposure amount in the leveling mode has been described. However, this is an example and depends on the AE condition. The exposure amount in the face detection area changes.

  In the description of each of the embodiments and the modifications described above, an example in which AF is performed to determine the focus position has been described. However, the focus position may be obtained by performing so-called focus lock shooting or manual shooting. It is also possible for the photographer to determine the in-focus position.

  In the description of the first embodiment, an example in which pre-emission is performed in order to perform exposure amount measurement has been described. However, it is also possible to perform exposure amount measurement during pre-emission performed for purposes other than exposure measurement. . For example, when the “AF illuminator” mode is set, it is possible to measure the exposure amount when pre-emission is performed for AF.

  In the description of each of the embodiments and the modifications described above, an example in the case of a digital camera or an analog camera has been described. However, the photographing apparatus may be a video camera.

In the description of each of the embodiments and the modifications described above, an example in which the angle of view of the imaging device is constant has been described. However, the imaging device may include a zoom mechanism. In this case, the illumination unit is the most wide-angle side can illuminate the whole photographing range S _W, so that it can illuminate the most divided telephoto side field angle range into a plurality, sets the number and arrangement of the light source of the illumination unit You just have to.
Operation during zoom, the zoom, except that the configuration of the partial region S _ij constituting the photographic range S _W is changed, it is possible to determine the amount of light emission distribution of the illumination unit in the same manner as described above.
At that time, as in the second embodiment, in the case where a lens for condensing the entire LED light source L _ij is provided, if the lens is configured to be zoomable, illumination is performed according to the angle of view of the photographing apparatus. It is possible to zoom light.

In the description of each of the embodiments and the modifications described above, the example in which the main subject is focused on the closest focus position has been described, but the main subject may be determined by other means. Is possible.
For example, for example, a touch sensor may be provided on the liquid crystal monitor, and the photographer may determine the in-focus position and the in-focus area by performing touch input on the display screen of the liquid crystal monitor.

  Further, all the components described above can be implemented by being appropriately combined or deleted within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

1, 21, 41 Camera (photographing device)
2, 42 Camera body (shooting unit)
2c Camera housing 3 Shooting lens unit (shooting unit)
4, 24, 44 Illumination unit 4a LED chip 4b Lens unit 4d LED drive unit 4d
5 Image sensor (shooting unit)
7, 27 Control unit 10, 30 Shooting control unit 11 Image acquisition unit 12 Image processing unit 14, 34 Exposure amount measurement unit 15, 35 Light emission amount control unit 44 Illumination units I _ij , I ₁₁ , I ₁₂ , I ₁₃ , I ₂₁ , I ₂₂ , I ₂₃ , I ₃₁ , I ₃₂ , I ₃₃ Illumination area L _ij , L ₁₁ , L ₁₂ , L ₁₃ , L ₂₁ , L ₂₂ , L ₂₃ , L ₃₁ , L ₃₂ , L ₃₃ LED light source O Optical axis O _ij Radiation optical axis O ₁ , O ₂ Subjects P _ij , P ₁₁ , P ₁₂ , P ₁₃ , P ₂₁ , P ₂₂ , P ₂₃ , P ₃₁ , P ₃₂ , P ₃₃ Pixel areas S _ij , S ₁₁ , S ₁₂ , S ₁₃ , S ₂₁ , S ₂₂ , S ₂₃ , S ₃₁ , S ₃₂ , S ₃₃ partial area (imaging area)
_SW shooting range (whole shooting range)

Claims (5)

A shooting section for shooting the subject;
Having a plurality of LED light sources that irradiate illumination light toward any one of a plurality of illumination areas set in a distributed manner within the imaging range, and illuminating the entire imaging range by turning on a plurality of the LED light sources Possible lighting part,
An exposure amount measuring unit for measuring an exposure amount from a photographing region corresponding to each of the plurality of illumination regions;
A light emission amount control unit for individually controlling the light emission amounts of the plurality of LED light sources based on the measurement result of the exposure amount by the exposure amount measurement unit;
An imaging device comprising: The light emission amount control unit
Perform pre-flash control for measuring the amount of exposure and main flash control for shooting,
The exposure measurement unit
While the pre-emission control is performed by the emission amount control unit, the exposure amount is measured,
The light emission amount control unit
Based on the measurement result of the exposure amount, the light emission amount of each of the plurality of LED light sources for obtaining the exposure amount necessary for photographing is calculated. In the main light emission control, the LED light source emits light with the light emission amount. The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The pre-flash control is
The photographing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the photographing apparatus is performed in a shorter time than a shutter opening time at the time of photographing. The light emission amount control unit
Control to change the amount of light emission during shooting is possible,
The exposure measurement unit
Measure the amount of exposure in the initial stage of shooting,
The light emission amount control unit
Based on the measurement result of the exposure amount by the exposure amount measurement unit, the correction values of the light emission amounts of the plurality of LED light sources after the initial stage are calculated, respectively. The photographing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a light emission amount of an LED light source is changed to each of the correction values. By illuminating a certain amount of illumination light with a plurality of LED light sources toward any of a plurality of illumination areas set dispersed within the imaging range, the entire imaging range is illuminated,
Measure the exposure amount from the shooting area corresponding to each of the plurality of illumination areas,
An imaging method for performing imaging by correcting the light amount distribution of the illumination light by individually controlling the light emission amounts of the plurality of LED light sources based on the measurement result of the exposure amount.

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