JP2015158627A - Imaging device and control method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging device that is advantageous for photographing still images involving image shake correction control.SOLUTION: An imaging device includes imaging means (106) for photographing subjects, image shake correction means (114) for moving an optical element (103) in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis on the basis of an image shake correction amount, object distance detection means (123) for detecting a distance to a subject, gain changing means (204) for changing gain to be applied to the image shake correction amount according to the distance to the subject, and control means (122) for controlling the gain changing means not to change the gain for a period during which the imaging means photographs still images.

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and a control method thereof.

  In Patent Document 1, still image shooting is performed while performing AF processing on a plurality of portions in order to obtain an image in which all areas of all subjects existing in the shooting area are in focus (hereinafter referred to as focus bracketing). A technique for combining a plurality of generated images (referred to as photographing) is disclosed. According to Patent Document 1, an all-in-focus image in which all areas are in focus can be obtained by extracting and synthesizing a desired portion of each image in focus on each subject.

  Patent Document 2 relates to an image blur correction technique for an imaging apparatus, and gain that is integrated with a correction amount for canceling blur from a macro area to a far area when driving a vibration-proof lens in a direction to cancel blur. A technique for changing (weighting coefficient) is disclosed. This is because the effect of camera shake differs between the macro area (when the subject is close) and the far area, and in the macro area, the parallel blur component that is horizontal to the optical axis in the camera shake. Becomes dominant, and the angle blur component becomes dominant as the distance increases.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for detecting a parallel blur component using an acceleration sensor and a technique for calculating a parallel blur amount by estimating a parallel velocity using an observer means.

JP 2003-319235 A JP2013-3325A JP 2013-15639 A

  In the conventional image stabilization control, the ratio of the weighting coefficient of each of the angular blur and the parallel blur to be canceled is periodically changed according to the distance of the subject. However, immediately after the ratio is changed, an unintended impact may occur due to the change, and there is a moment when correct correction is not performed.

  Especially when shooting all-in-focus images when there are multiple subjects in the area far from the macro area, the timing of focus bracket shooting overlaps with the timing of changing the ratio of the weighting coefficient of the correction amount to cancel the blur. There is. In this case, there is a problem that optimal still image shooting cannot be performed due to vibration caused by an impact that has changed the characteristics of the image stabilization control.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus that is advantageous for still image shooting with image blur correction control.

  An imaging apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes an imaging unit that captures an image of an object, an image blur correction unit that moves an optical element in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis based on an image blur correction amount, and an object that detects an object distance. A distance detecting unit; a gain changing unit that changes a gain applied to the image blur correction amount according to the subject distance; and the gain change so that the gain is not changed during a period in which the imaging unit performs still image shooting. Control means for controlling the means.

  Other objects and features of the present invention are illustrated in the following examples.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an imaging apparatus that is advantageous for still image shooting with image blur correction control.

It is a block diagram of the imaging device concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the image stabilization control part concerning embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a timing diagram of changes in subject distance and shooting with respect to a blur correction amount update period. It is a situation figure when performing focus bracket photography. FIG. 6 is a situation diagram when focus bracket shooting is performed when subjects are densely packed in a macro area. It is a flowchart when producing the omnifocal image concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the gain prohibition control concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the drive control concerning embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a digital camera 100 as an example of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The digital camera 100 includes a lens barrel 101. Here, the imaging device described in the present embodiment is a lens-integrated imaging device, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be an image pickup apparatus including a lens apparatus having a photographing optical system and an image pickup apparatus main body having an image pickup element to which the lens apparatus is detachably mounted. The lens barrel 101 holds a lens group (imaging optical system) therein. The photographing optical system includes a zoom lens 102 that optically changes the angle of view by adjusting a focal length, and an anti-vibration lens (image blur correction lens) that is a correction shift lens that corrects image blur caused by camera shake. 103, a focus lens 104 for adjusting the focus. Further, an aperture and a shutter 105 for adjusting the amount of light used for exposure control are provided.

  The light that has passed through the lens barrel 101 is received by an image sensor 106 using a CCD (charge coupled device), a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor), or the like, and converted from an optical signal to an electrical signal. The image sensor 106 functions as an imaging unit that images a subject.

  An electrical signal output from the image sensor 106 is input to the image processing circuit 107, subjected to pixel interpolation processing, color conversion processing, and the like, and then sent to the internal memory 108 as image data. The internal memory 108 is configured by a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), or the like.

  The display unit 109 is composed of a TFT LCD (Thin Film Transistor Driven Liquid Crystal Display) or the like, and displays shooting information and the like together with the shot image data.

  Data stored in the internal memory 108 is compressed and decompressed by the compression / decompression processing unit 110 in accordance with the image format. The data is recorded in a storage memory 111 such as an external recording medium such as a memory card that is mounted on the digital camera 100 or a non-volatile memory built in the digital camera 100.

  Further, the contrast evaluation value acquisition unit 121 acquires the contrast evaluation value of the image data.

  Next, the drive unit of the lens barrel 101 will be described.

  The aperture shutter driver 112 calculates an exposure control value (aperture value and shutter speed) based on the luminance information obtained by the image processing in the image processing circuit 107, and drives the aperture and shutter 105 based on the calculation result. Thereby, automatic exposure (AE) control is performed.

  The focus lens driving unit 113 drives the focus lens 104. For example, in contrast AF control, by pressing the release switch 117 halfway, the contrast evaluation value acquisition unit 121 acquires a contrast evaluation value representing the brightness of the subject while driving the focus lens 104. The focus lens 104 is driven to the position where the evaluation value is the highest, and the subject is focused. For the application of the present invention, a phase difference AF method or a method combined with another method can also be adopted. Further, when the release switch 117 is pressed (fully pressed), shooting can be performed.

  The anti-vibration lens driving unit 114 calculates the shake amount applied to the digital camera 100 based on information from the shake detection unit 119 such as a gyro sensor, and drives the anti-vibration lens 103 so as to cancel the shake amount. The image stabilization lens driving unit 114 functions as an image stabilization unit that moves the image stabilization lens 103 (optical element) in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis based on the image stabilization amount. The current position detection unit 115 acquires the current position of the image stabilizing lens 103. In this embodiment, the image stabilization lens 103 is driven in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis to obtain an image blur correction effect. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the image sensor 106 (optical element). May be driven in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis to obtain an image blur correction effect.

  The zoom lens driving unit 116 drives the zoom lens 102 in accordance with a zoom operation instruction from an operation unit provided in the digital camera 100.

  The system control unit 120 is configured using an arithmetic device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and controls the entire camera by sending a control command to each unit in response to an operation from the operation unit of the photographer.

  The system control unit 120 executes various control programs stored in the internal memory 108, such as programs for performing control of the image sensor 106, AE / AF control, image stabilization control, zoom control, and the like.

  Various operation buttons 118 include a zoom operation, various menu operations, and a mode switching operation.

  Next, control related to the omnifocal photographing function in the system control unit 120 will be described.

  A subject distance detection unit 123 (subject distance detection means) detects the subject distance. Here, a method for detecting the subject distance according to the evaluation value obtained by the contrast evaluation value acquisition unit 121 will be described as an example. In the subject distance detection process, the transition of the contrast evaluation value in the subject area on the image data is obtained by acquiring image data at any time while changing the position of the focus lens 104 throughout the drivable range at an arbitrary timing. The subject distance is detected based on the transition of the contrast evaluation value of the subject area. For the application of the present invention, any object distance detection method may be used, and therefore an object distance detection method using a distance measuring sensor using the phase difference AF method can be employed.

  The focus bracket control unit 122 determines shooting conditions for the focus bracket based on the contrast evaluation value, and performs focus bracket shooting by driving the focus lens 104, the diaphragm, and the shutter 105 based on the conditions. In focus bracket shooting, the process of driving the focus lens with respect to the detected subject distance to acquire image data is continuously repeated. Therefore, in focus bracket shooting, the focus lens is driven to sequentially and sequentially image subjects with different subject distances.

  The image composition processing unit 124 composes a plurality of image data captured by the focus bracket based on the contrast evaluation value, and generates one image (composite image) from the plurality of image data. In other words, the image composition processing unit 124 functions as an image composition unit that composes a plurality of images obtained by focus bracket photography. When the image composition processing unit 124 performs image composition, first, the evaluation values are compared between the images based on the contrast evaluation value, and the clearest portion of each pixel portion is extracted. Then, by superimposing the pixel portions of each extracted image for each pixel corresponding to each area of the finally generated image, a single image focused on the entire subject is generated from a plurality of image data. .

  Next, control related to the image stabilization function in the system control unit 120 will be described.

  The image stabilization control unit 125 controls image stabilization by controlling the image stabilization lens driving unit 114 that drives the image stabilization lens 103.

  FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the image stabilization control unit 125.

  The camera shake detected by the shake detection unit 119 is detected as an angular velocity by a gyro sensor that is an angular velocity sensor, for example. Since an acceleration sensor can be converted into an angular velocity by performing integration once, in the following description, the shake detection unit 119 detects the angular velocity.

  The angular velocity integration unit 201 integrates the angular velocity to calculate the angular blur amount.

  The angle blur correction amount calculation unit 202 performs distance conversion in the anti-vibration lens on the calculated angle blur amount, and calculates as a blur cancel amount (image blur correction amount).

  The angle blur gain integrating unit 203 weights the calculated angle blur correction amount according to the distance detected by the subject distance detecting unit 123.

  The gain change control unit 204 instructs the angle blur gain integrating unit and a parallel blur gain integrating unit, which will be described later, to change the weighting amount when the subject distance detected by the subject distance detecting unit 123 has changed. In other words, the gain change control unit 204 functions as a gain changing unit that changes the gain applied to the image blur correction amount (angle blur correction amount and parallel blur correction amount described later) according to the subject distance.

  The anti-vibration lens driving unit 114 outputs the difference between the current position detected by the current position detection unit 115 and the current position detected by the current position detection unit 115 as the target position.

  In the estimated parallel velocity calculation unit 208, information on the relative displacement between the drive unit and the fixed unit of the image stabilization mechanism detected by the current position detection unit 115 is input together with the output of the image stabilization lens drive unit 114. The estimation of the parallel velocity is described in Patent Document 3 as an existing technique.

  The speed integrator 205 integrates the estimated parallel speed to calculate the parallel blur amount.

  The parallel blur correction amount calculation unit 206 performs distance conversion in the image stabilization lens for the calculated parallel blur amount, and calculates as a blur cancel amount (image blur correction amount).

  The parallel blur gain integrating unit 207 weights the calculated parallel blur correction amount according to the distance detected by the subject distance detecting unit 123. Since the influence of the parallel blur becomes more dominant as the subject is in the macro area based on the information of the subject distance detection unit 123, the weighting amount accumulated in the parallel blur gain accumulation unit 207 is a value close to 1 in the macro area. On the other hand, the weighting amount integrated in the angle blur gain integrating unit 203 is a value close to zero. On the contrary, in the far region, the weighting amount integrated in the parallel blur gain integrating unit 207 is a value close to zero, and the weighting amount integrated in the angle blur gain integrating unit 203 is a value close to 1. Here, it is assumed that the weighting amount operated by the angle blur gain integrating unit 203 and the parallel blur gain integrating unit 207 is controlled at a ratio in which the total amount is 1.

  FIG. 3 shows the change in the subject distance and the shooting timing with respect to the update period of the blur correction amount.

  Since the camera shake detected by the shake detection unit 119 changes every moment, the period (calculated period) in which the angle blur correction amount and the parallel blur correction amount are updated is a constant interval. Accordingly, the gain applied to the angle blur correction amount and the parallel blur correction amount is also periodically updated in accordance with the subject distance.

  Immediately after t6 when the subject distance changes, the time at which the weighting amount of the angle blur correction amount and the parallel blur correction amount changes, and the arbitrarily performed shooting timing coincides with that point, an unintended impact May be affected.

  4 and 5 illustrate the situation when focus bracket shooting is performed. FIG. 5 shows an example in which people are concentrated in the macro area with respect to FIG. 4, but the configuration is the same as FIG. 4, and therefore, FIG. 4 will be described as an example here.

  FIG. 4A shows an image of an omnifocal image completed by performing focus bracket photography and combining the images. FIG. 4B illustrates the distance relationship between the imaging device and the subject. FIG. 4C illustrates the relationship between the distance of each subject and the contrast evaluation value. FIG. 4D illustrates the relationship between the blur correction amount update period and the shooting timing of each subject.

  Regarding the timing at which the focus bracket control unit 122 moves the focus lens 104 to the area where the subject exists and the still image shooting timing overlaps with the timing of the update period of the shake correction amount, there is a possibility of being affected by unintended fluctuations. As described above. In FIG. 4D, this corresponds to the case where t5 overlaps.

  Therefore, at a timing such as t5, the gain change control unit 204 does not change the weighting amount by the angle blur gain integrating unit 203 and the parallel blur gain integrating unit 207, and is executed at t6, thereby avoiding the influence of an unintended change. can do. That is, the gain change control unit 204 is controlled so as to change the weighting amount by shifting from t5 to t6. As described above, the system control unit 120 (or the focus bracket control unit 122) controls the gain change control unit 204 so that the gain (weighting amount) is not changed during the period in which the image sensor 106 performs still image shooting. Here, the period for taking a still image is a period from the timing at which the drive of the focus lens 104 to the target position is completed to the timing at which the exposure period of the image sensor 106 is completed. Note that the system control unit 120 controls the gain change control unit 204 so that the gain can be changed after the exposure period of the image sensor 106 is completed.

  The image creation modes in the first embodiment and the second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 6. FIG.

  In contrast to the first embodiment, the focus bracket is used as the focus bracket in the second embodiment, so the second embodiment will be described below, but in that description, only one focus drive is performed. The first embodiment is included.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for creating an omnifocal image in the second embodiment. The flowchart of FIG. 6 is executed by the system control unit 120.

  Step S601 is the start of the omnifocal image creation mode.

  The flow on the left side of the flowchart is anti-vibration control that is periodically performed, and the flow on the right side is focus bracket control that is started when the release switch is pressed.

  Step S602 is the start of an image stabilization control loop.

  In step S603, it is determined whether gain change is permitted. The prohibition / permission of gain change, that is, gain change prohibition control will be described in detail later.

  If the gain change is permitted, the subject distance is acquired from the subject distance detection unit 123 in step S604, and the gain change control unit 204 changes the gain. If the gain change is not permitted, the process proceeds to step S605 without changing the gain in step S604.

  In step S605, the angular velocity ω is acquired from the shake detection unit 119.

  In step S606, the angle Θ is calculated by integrating the angular velocity ω by the angular velocity integrating unit 201.

  In step S <b> 607, the angle blur correction amount calculation unit 202 multiplies the angle Θ by a fixed constant to approximately convert to a distance, and calculates the angle blur correction amount D.

  In step S608, the angle blur gain integrating unit 203 integrates the angle blur gain α with the angle blur correction amount D.

  In step S <b> 609, the current position detection unit 115 acquires the current position of the image stabilization lens.

  In step S610, the estimated parallel velocity calculation unit 208 estimates the parallel velocity v using the observer means for the acquired current position.

  In step S611, the distance W is calculated by integrating the speed v by the speed integrator 205.

  In step S612, the parallel blur correction amount calculation unit 206 changes the parallel blur correction amount S by calculating a fixed multiplier with respect to the distance W.

  In step S613, the parallel blur gain accumulation unit 207 accumulates the parallel blur gain β in the parallel blur correction amount S.

  In step S614, drive control is performed by the anti-vibration lens driving unit 114. The drive control will be described in detail later.

  Step S615 is the end of the image stabilization control loop.

  In the image stabilization control, steps S603 to S614 are repeated at a predetermined cycle.

  In addition to the above image stabilization control, the focus bracket control unit 122 performs the process of monitoring the depression of the release switch 117 in step S616 in parallel.

  When the release switch 117 is pressed, focus scanning is started in step S617.

  In step S <b> 618, the contrast evaluation value acquisition unit 121 acquires a contrast evaluation value expressing the brightness of the subject. In the example of FIG. 4, when focus scan is performed and evaluation values are acquired, person 1, person 2, and tree are detected in descending order of evaluation values.

  Step S619 is the start of the focus bracket loop. In the example of FIG. 4, three loops are performed for person 1, person 2, and tree.

  In step S620, driving of the focus lens is started so that the person 1, person 2, and tree having high evaluation values are in focus.

  In step S621, driving of the focus lens to the target position is completed.

  If α and β are changed immediately after the drive of the focus lens to the target position is completed, the timing of the next still image shooting and the timing of the output of the image stabilization control overlap, and the shot still image is There is a possibility of being affected by unintended fluctuations of the vibration-proof lens.

  Therefore, gain change prohibition control is performed in step S622.

  A detailed flow of the gain change prohibition control will be described in detail later.

  Step S623 is the end of the focus bracket loop.

  Step S624 is the end of the omnifocal image creation mode.

  Next, gain change prohibition control according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 7. In the gain change prohibition control in the first and second embodiments, the same control as that in which the determinations in steps S702 to S704 and steps S707 to S708 described below are not executed is performed.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart of gain change prohibition control. The flowchart of FIG. 7 is executed by the system control unit 120.

  Step S701 is the start of gain change prohibition control.

  In step S <b> 702, it is determined whether or not the distance between each subject acquired by the contrast evaluation value acquisition unit 121 and determined as the high evaluation value is smaller than a predetermined amount (first predetermined amount). That is, it is determined whether or not the distance between the first subject distance and the second subject distance among the plurality of subject distances among the plurality of subjects determined to be the high evaluation value is smaller than the first predetermined amount.

  If the distance between adjacent subjects is smaller than a predetermined amount, an adjacent range is set in step S703. In the example of FIG. 5, person 1, person 2, and person 3 are adjacent to each other within a predetermined range, and the distance from person 1 to person 3 is set as the adjacent range.

  If the distance between adjacent subjects is greater than or equal to the predetermined amount, the adjacent range is not set in step S704.

  Since step S705 is immediately after the focus lens has been driven to the target position, the gain change is prohibited. That is, since exposure by the image sensor 106 is started in the next step S706, the gain change is prohibited during the still image shooting period.

  In step S706, it is determined whether or not the image sensor 106 is being exposed. That is, it is determined whether or not the exposure period from the exposure start timing of the image sensor 106 to the exposure end timing in still image shooting.

  When the exposure is completed, it is determined in step S707 whether or not the current focus position is within the adjacent range set previously.

  When the adjacent range is not set, the gain change is permitted in step S709. That is, when the exposure is completed, the gain change control unit 204 is controlled so that the gain can be changed.

  If the adjacent range is set, it is determined in step S708 whether the current focus position is the last in the previously set adjacent range.

  If it is the last time, gain change is permitted in step S709. That is, when the still image shooting (exposure period) of the image sensor 106 is completed at all of the plurality of subject distances set in the adjacent range, the gain change control unit 204 is controlled so that the gain can be changed.

  If it is not the last, the bracket control is continued without permitting the gain change.

  Step S710 is the end of the gain change prohibition control.

  Next, drive control according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 8. In the drive control in the first, second, and third embodiments, the same control as that in which steps S802 to S804 and steps S806 to S807 described below are not executed is performed.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart of drive control. The flowchart of FIG. 8 is executed by the system control unit 120.

  Step S801 is the start of drive control.

  In step S802, it is determined whether or not the gain change amount is larger than a predetermined amount (second predetermined amount).

  If it is larger than the predetermined amount, it is conceivable that the fluctuation of the image stabilizing lens at the time of changing the gain is increased. Therefore, in step S803, the output is limited, and the output is increased stepwise (sequentially).

  If it is equal to or smaller than the predetermined amount, the control for increasing the output stepwise is not performed, assuming that there is no output limitation in step S804.

  Step S805 is the start of the output loop.

  In step S806, it is determined whether there is an output limitation.

  If there is an output restriction, the output weighting amount γ (0 <γ ≦ 1) is changed stepwise in step S807. It is assumed that the step size is determined in advance.

  If there is no output limitation, γ which is an output weighting amount is fixed to 1 in step S808.

  In step S809, an output value is calculated. For example, the output value is obtained by adding the previously prepared weighting amount γ to the sum of the angle blurring amount α × D and the parallel blurring amount β × S. Note that α and β are weighting coefficients that are unity. That is, when the gain change amount by the gain change control unit 204 is larger than the second predetermined amount, the weighting amount (γ) that increases stepwise with respect to the image blur correction amount multiplied by the gain (α, β) is set. Call.

  In step S810, the image stabilizing lens is driven and controlled based on the calculated output value.

  Step S811 is the end of the output loop.

  Step S812 is the end of drive control.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to avoid the creation of still image data immediately after changing the characteristics of the image stabilization control, so that an omnifocal image can be generated based on optimal image data.

  In the above, the present invention has been described in detail on the basis of the preferred embodiments thereof, but the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments, and various forms within the scope of the present invention are not limited thereto. include. A part of the above-described embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  In the above embodiment, the digital camera is used as an example of the imaging apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be applied to a single-lens reflex camera, a video camera, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a portable game machine, and the like.

  The present invention can be suitably used for an imaging apparatus such as a compact digital camera, a single-lens reflex camera, a video camera, or a camera-equipped mobile phone, a smartphone, or a portable game machine.

106 Image sensor 115 Anti-vibration lens drive unit 120 System control unit 122 Focus bracket control unit 123 Subject distance detection unit 125 Anti-vibration control unit 204 Gain change control unit

Claims (10)

Imaging means for imaging a subject;
Image blur correction means for moving the optical element in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis based on the image blur correction amount;
Subject distance detection means for detecting the subject distance;
Gain changing means for changing a gain applied to the image blur correction amount according to the subject distance;
Control means for controlling the gain changing means so as not to change the gain during a period in which the imaging means performs still image shooting;
An imaging device comprising:   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the period during which the still image is captured is a period from a timing at which driving of the focus lens to a target position is completed to a timing at which the exposure period of the imaging unit is completed. .   The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging unit performs focus bracket imaging in which a focus lens is driven to continuously capture subjects having different subject distances.   The imaging apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an image synthesis unit that synthesizes a plurality of images obtained by the focus bracket photographing.   5. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gain changing unit periodically changes the gain in accordance with the subject distance. 6.   6. The imaging according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the gain changing unit so that the gain can be changed after an exposure period of the imaging unit is completed. apparatus.   When a plurality of subject distances are detected by the subject distance detection means, and the distance between the first subject distance and the second subject distance among the plurality of subject distances is smaller than a first predetermined amount, the first subject distance and The gain changing means is controlled so that the gain can be changed after an exposure period of the imaging means is completed at the second subject distance. Imaging device.   The control unit applies a weighting amount that increases stepwise to the image blur correction amount to which the gain is applied when the gain change amount by the gain changing unit is larger than a second predetermined amount. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A method for controlling an imaging apparatus including an imaging means for imaging a subject,
An image blur correction step of moving the optical element in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis based on the image blur correction amount;
A subject distance detection step for detecting a subject distance;
A gain changing step of changing a gain applied to the image blur correction amount according to the subject distance;
A control step for controlling the gain so as not to change during a period in which the imaging means performs still image shooting;
A method for controlling an imaging apparatus, comprising:   The imaging apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the period during which the still image is captured is a period from a timing at which driving of the focus lens to a target position is completed to a timing at which the exposure period of the imaging unit is completed. Control method.