JP2016063254A - Imaging apparatus an imaging method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for recording a RAW image capable of properly displaying at a time of photographing and displaying at a time of reproducing.SOLUTION: The imaging apparatus generates a RAW image by photographing a subject and generates a reduced RAW image by reducing the RAW image. The RAW image and the reduced RAW image are recorded in a recording medium. At a time of photographing, the reduced RAW image is developed for display, and, at a time of reproducing, the reduced RAW image recorded in the recording medium in accordance with an instruction of reproduction is obtained and developed. Each thereof is used for display.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and an imaging method, and more particularly to a technique for handling a RAW image of a moving image or a still image.

  A conventional imaging device performs debayer processing (demosaic processing) on raw image information (RAW image) captured by an imaging sensor during a shooting operation, converts the signal into a signal composed of luminance and color difference, and removes noise from each signal. Development processing such as optical distortion correction and image optimization is performed. In general, in an imaging apparatus, the developed luminance signal and color difference signal are compression-coded and then recorded on a recording medium.

  On the other hand, there are imaging devices that can record RAW images. RAW images require a large amount of data for recording, but are preferred by advanced users because they have the advantage that correction and deterioration of the original image can be minimized and can be edited after shooting.

  The configuration of an imaging apparatus that records a RAW image is disclosed in Patent Document 1. Patent Document 1 describes a configuration in which development parameters are recorded together with a RAW image, and the RAW image is developed and reproduced using the development parameters during reproduction.

JP 2011-244423 A

  In recent imaging devices, imaging sensors have evolved, and the number of pixels per image has increased significantly. Also, the number of images that can be taken continuously per second tends to increase. For this reason, each processing amount for developing processing such as debayer processing for RAW images, noise removal, optical distortion correction, and the like is synergistically increased. Therefore, in order to perform real-time development processing in parallel with shooting, the imaging apparatus has Enormous circuits and power consumption are consumed. Nevertheless, in some cases, the imaging apparatus may not be able to exercise high imaging performance due to the occupation of the circuit due to the development process or the limitation on power consumption.

  On the other hand, if the configuration is such that the RAW image is recorded without being developed as in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the processing amount related to the development at the time of photographing may be reduced, but the recording is performed in a state where the image is not developed. Therefore, it is difficult to quickly reproduce and display the image. In addition, RAW images cannot be played back (developed) by other devices due to the uniqueness of data specific to RAW images and the uniqueness of each manufacturer, so the conventional RAW image recording method increases user convenience. There was a loss.

  In this way, in order for the imaging device to exercise high shooting performance and to reproduce images at high speed, it can be driven at high output by installing a high-cost circuit, or a RAW image can be recorded. In other words, there is a problem that must be able to be played back quickly and easily. In particular, an increase in cost causes a decrease in user merit, so it is important that the imaging apparatus can record a RAW image in an easy-to-handle state.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus and an imaging method that can suitably perform display during shooting and display during playback in an apparatus that records RAW images.

  In order to achieve the above object, an imaging apparatus according to the present invention includes an imaging unit that captures a subject image to generate a RAW image, a reduction unit that reduces the RAW image to generate a reduced RAW image, and First developing means for acquiring a reduced RAW image and performing development processing, recording means for recording the RAW image and the reduced RAW image on a recording medium, and reproduction of the RAW image recorded on the recording medium An instruction means for instructing, a second developing means for obtaining the reduced RAW image recorded on the recording medium and performing a development process in response to a reproduction instruction, and the development process performed by the second developing means. And display processing means for displaying a reproduced image.

  According to the present invention, a reduced RAW image is also generated in an apparatus for recording a RAW image, so that a display during photographing and a display during reproduction can be suitably performed.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a state (mode) transition diagram concerning this embodiment. It is a flowchart concerning the photographing processing of the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of each file recorded in this embodiment. It is a flowchart concerning the development processing of this embodiment. It is a flowchart which concerns on the reproduction | regeneration processing of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the display process of this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of an editing apparatus (external device). It is a flowchart concerning the edit processing and edit execution of this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the image processing apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the pixel arrangement | sequence of a RAW image.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an imaging apparatus 100 is shown as an example of the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The imaging apparatus 100 not only records image information obtained by imaging a subject on a recording medium, but also reproduces the image information from the recording medium, develops and displays the information, and displays image information on an external device, It has a function of sending and receiving and editing with a server (cloud). Therefore, the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment can be expressed not only as an imaging apparatus but also as a recording apparatus, a reproducing apparatus, a recording / reproducing apparatus, a communication apparatus, an editing apparatus, an image processing system, an editing system, or the like. it can.

  In FIG. 1, the control unit 161 includes a CPU and a memory (not shown) that stores a control program executed by the CPU, and controls the overall processing of the imaging apparatus 100. The operation unit 162 includes input devices such as keys, buttons, and a touch panel used by the user to give an instruction to the imaging apparatus 100. An operation signal from the operation unit 162 is detected by the control unit 161, and each unit is controlled by the control unit 161 so that an operation corresponding to the operation is executed. The display unit 123 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) or the like for displaying an image taken or reproduced in the imaging apparatus 100, a menu screen, various information, and the like.

  In the present embodiment, the photographing or photographing operation is an operation of capturing a subject image and displaying an image obtained by the imaging on the display unit 123, or further recording the image as a file on a predetermined recording medium. Means movement.

  When the operation unit 162 is instructed to start a shooting operation, an optical image of a subject to be imaged is input via the optical unit 101 including a lens group and is formed on the image sensor unit 102. At the time of shooting, the operations of the optical unit 101 and the imaging sensor unit 102 are subject information such as an evaluation value calculation result obtained by the evaluation value calculation unit 105 such as an aperture value, focus, camera shake, and a face recognition result extracted by the recognition unit 131. Is controlled by the camera control unit 104 based on the above.

  The image sensor unit 102 converts light transmitted through a red, green, and blue (RGB) mosaic color filter arranged for each pixel into an electrical signal. The resolution of the imaging sensor corresponds to, for example, 4K (8 million pixels or more) or 8K (33 million pixels or more). FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a color filter arranged in the imaging sensor unit 102, and illustrates a pixel array of an image handled by the imaging apparatus 100. As shown in FIG. 11, red (R), green (G), and blue (B) are arranged in a mosaic pattern for each pixel, and for 2 × 2 four pixels, one red pixel, one blue pixel, and two green pixels It has a structure in which pixels are regularly arranged in one set. The electrical signal converted by the imaging sensor unit 102 includes red (R), green (G), and blue (B) components. Green (G) can also be treated as a component of two types of green (G0, G1) that differ for each position. Such an arrangement of pixels is generally called a Bayer array.

  The electrical signal converted by the imaging sensor unit 102 is subjected to pixel restoration processing by the sensor signal processing unit 103. The restoration process includes a process of interpolating a pixel to be restored using a peripheral pixel value or subtracting a predetermined offset value from a missing pixel value or a low-reliability pixel value in the image sensor unit 102. It is. It should be noted that a part or all of the repair processing may be changed to be performed at the subsequent development stage without being performed at this point.

  In the present embodiment, the image information output from the sensor signal processing unit 103 is referred to as RAW image information (hereinafter, RAW image) meaning a raw (undeveloped) image. The RAW image is supplied to the RAW compression unit 113 and compressed for efficient recording. The size of the RAW image is reduced by the RAW reduction unit 109 for the purpose of efficiently displaying and reproducing. The RAW reduction unit 109 resizes the input RAW image to, for example, an HD size (equivalent to 200 pixels). Hereinafter, the RAW image reduced by the RAW reduction unit 109 is referred to as a reduced RAW image.

  The reduced RAW image is supplied to the live view developing unit 111 in the developing unit 110 and subjected to development processing for use in display (live view) at the time of shooting. The reduced RAW image is also supplied to the RAW compression unit 113 for use in proxy for simple reproduction or editing. Similar to the RAW image, the reduced RAW image is recorded after being compressed by the RAW compression unit 113 for efficient recording. Further, the reduced RAW image is also supplied to the evaluation value calculation unit 105.

  Here, the developing unit 110 will be described in detail. The development unit 110 includes a live view development unit 111 (first development unit) that performs development for live view during shooting, and a high-quality development unit 112 (second development unit) that performs high-quality development during non-shooting. And includes a switch unit 121 that selects the output thereof. The live view developing unit 111 has a capability of developing a reduced RAW image in real time in parallel with photographing, and the high image quality developing unit 112 develops a RAW image before reduction which is larger than the reduced RAW image with high definition in non-real time. With the ability to In the present embodiment, live view development can be expressed as simple development or display development, and high-quality development can be expressed as main development or reproduction development executed at a timing according to a request.

  The high image quality developing unit 112 performs debayer processing (demosaic processing), that is, color interpolation processing, on the RAW image or the reduced RAW image, converts the signal into luminance and color difference (or primary color) signals, and converts noise included in each signal. A so-called development process is performed to correct the image by removing and correcting the optical distortion. In addition, the live view development unit 111 performs debayer processing (demosaic processing) on the reduced RAW image, that is, color interpolation processing, converts the signal into luminance and color difference (or primary color) signals, and removes noise included in each signal. Then, so-called development processing for correcting optical distortion and optimizing the image is performed.

  The high image quality developing unit 112 performs each process with higher accuracy than the live view developing unit 111. Since it is highly accurate, a developed image with higher image quality than that of the live view developing unit 111 can be obtained, but on the other hand, the processing load increases. Therefore, the high image quality developing unit 112 of the present embodiment is configured to be able to perform development processing during reproduction or to perform development processing during an idle period after shooting. As described above, by performing high-quality development not at the time of photographing but after photographing or at the time of reproduction, an increase (peak) in circuit scale and power consumption can be suppressed to a low level. On the other hand, the live view development unit 111 has a lower image quality than the high image quality development unit 112, but is configured so that the processing amount related to development is smaller than the high image quality development so that the development process can be performed at high speed during shooting. Yes. Since the processing load of the live view developing unit 111 is small, real-time development can be performed for each frame in parallel with the shooting operation during live view shooting of a moving image or a still image.

  The switch unit 121 is switched by the control unit 161 in accordance with control according to the operation content instructed by the user from the operation unit 162 and the operation mode being executed. Further, in conjunction with the switching of the switch unit 121, only one of the live view developing unit 111 and the high-quality developing unit 112 that is a signal output target performs a developing operation, and the operation related to the other is stopped. You may do it. In the present embodiment, a configuration in which the live view development unit 111 and the high quality development unit 112 exist independently in the development unit 110 is shown. However, one development unit switches the operation mode to perform live view development. And high-quality development processing may be selectively performed.

  The image information developed by the developing unit 110 is displayed on the display unit 123 after a predetermined display process is performed by the display processing unit 122. Further, the developed image information can be output to an external display device connected to the outside through the video output terminal 124. The video output terminal 124 includes a general-purpose interface such as HDMI (registered trademark) or SDI.

  At the time of shooting, the image information developed by the live view by the developing unit 110 is supplied to the evaluation value calculating unit 105. The evaluation value calculation unit 105 calculates an evaluation value such as a focus state or an exposure state from the reduced RAW image or the developed image information. The calculated evaluation value is output to the camera control unit 104. Display information indicating the evaluation result is output to the display processing unit 122. Further, the image information subjected to the live view development processing is also supplied to the recognition unit 131. The recognition unit 131 has a function of detecting and recognizing subject information such as a face and a person in image information. For example, a face in the screen represented by the image information is detected, and if there is, information indicating the position of the face is output to the camera control unit 104, and authentication of a specific person is performed based on feature information such as the face. Do. Display information indicating the detection and recognition results is output to the display processing unit 122.

  Image information developed with high image quality by the developing unit 110 is supplied to the still image compressing unit 141 or the moving image compressing unit 142. When compressing the image information as a still image, the still image compression unit 141 is used. When the image information is compressed as a moving image, the moving image compression unit 142 is used. The still image compressing unit 141 and the moving image compressing unit 142 each perform high-efficiency encoding (compression encoding) on the target image information, generate image information whose information amount is compressed, and generate a high-quality developed file (still image). Image file or movie file). Still image compression is JPEG or the like, and moving image compression is MPEG-2 or H.264. H.264, H.C. Standard encoding techniques such as H.265 can be used.

  The RAW compression unit 113 performs wavelet transform, quantization, entropy coding (difference coding, etc.) on the RAW image data from the sensor signal processing unit 103 and the reduced RAW image data from the RAW reduction unit 109, respectively. High-efficiency encoding using this technique. The RAW compression unit 113 generates a RAW image file (RAW file) and a reduced RAW image file (reduced RAW file) compressed by high-efficiency encoding. The RAW file and the reduced RAW file are first stored in the buffer unit 115 (storage medium). The RAW file and the reduced RAW file can remain in the buffer unit 115 and can be read again. However, after being stored in the buffer unit 115, the RAW file and the reduced RAW file are moved to another recording medium and recorded as described later (buffer unit). 115 may be deleted).

  The RAW file, the reduced RAW file, and the above-described high-quality developed file (still image file or moving image file) are recorded on the recording medium 152 by the recording / playback unit 151. The recording medium 152 is, for example, a built-in large-capacity semiconductor memory, a hard disk, or a removable memory card. The recording / playback unit 151 can also read various files from the recording medium 152 in accordance with a user operation.

  The recording / playback unit 151 can transmit / receive various files and related information to / from an external storage or server connected to the network via the communication unit 153, or a personal digital assistant (PC). The communication unit 153 has a configuration in which an external device can be accessed using the communication terminal 154 via the Internet by wireless communication or wired communication or by direct communication between devices. As a result, the recording / playback unit 151 records the RAW file, the reduced RAW file, and the high-quality developed file (still image file or moving image file) on the external device or edit information based on the recorded information. It is possible to give an instruction to generate it.

  During the playback operation of the imaging apparatus 100, the recording / playback unit 151 acquires and plays back a desired file from the recording medium 152 or from an external device via the communication unit 153. If the file to be played is a RAW file or a reduced RAW file, the recording / playback unit 151 stores the acquired RAW file in the buffer unit 115. If the file to be played back is a still image file, the recording / playback unit 151 supplies the acquired still image file to the still image expansion unit 143. If the file to be played is a moving image file, the recording / playback unit 151 supplies the acquired moving image file to the moving image decompression unit 144.

  The RAW decompression unit 114 reads the RAW file or the reduced RAW file stored in the buffer unit 115, performs reverse conversion at the time of compression, and decompresses the compressed state. The RAW image and the reduced RAW image expanded by the RAW expansion unit 114 are supplied to the high image quality development unit 112 and subjected to the high image quality development processing as described above.

  The still image decompressing unit 143 decodes and decompresses the input still image file, and supplies it to the display processing unit 122 as a playback image of the still image. The moving image decompression unit 144 decodes and decompresses the input moving image file, and supplies it to the display processing unit 122 as a reproduced image of the moving image.

  Next, operation modes of the imaging apparatus 100 of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a state (mode) transition diagram according to the present embodiment. Such a mode transition is executed according to a user operation instruction from the operation unit 162 or a determination of the control unit 161, and may be manually changed according to the operation, or may be automatically changed. As shown in FIG. 2, the imaging apparatus 100 includes five modes via an idle state (200), a still image shooting mode (201), a still image playback mode (202), a moving image shooting mode (203), and a moving image playback mode. (204) The operation is switched to the edit mode (205) as appropriate.

  Next, operations related to the still image shooting mode and the moving image shooting mode of the imaging apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart according to the photographing process of the present embodiment. The flowchart in FIG. 3 illustrates a processing procedure executed by controlling each processing block by the control unit 161. A program stored in a memory (ROM) of the control unit 161 is stored in the memory (RAM). This is realized by expanding and executing by the CPU.

  In FIG. 3, when the still image or moving image shooting process is started, the control unit 161 determines whether or not it is necessary to stop in S301. When the shooting process is stopped, the control unit 161 shifts to an idle state. Proceed to Even in the shooting mode, if there is no operation input for a predetermined time or if there is an interval before the next shooting, control is performed to transition to the idle state (and return under a predetermined condition). Also good.

  In step S <b> 302, the camera control unit 104 controls the operations of the optical unit 101 and the image sensor unit 102 so that shooting is performed under suitable conditions. For example, the lens included in the optical unit 101 is moved in accordance with the user's zoom or focus instruction, or the readout area of the image sensor unit 102 is set in accordance with the instruction on the number of pixels to be captured. In addition, based on evaluation value information and subject information supplied from an evaluation value calculation unit 105 and a recognition unit 131, which will be described later, control such as focus adjustment and tracking for a specific subject is performed. In step S302, the sensor signal processing unit 103 performs signal processing for pixel repair on the electrical signal converted by the imaging sensor unit 102. In other words, the sensor signal processing unit 103 interpolates using missing pixel values or subtracts a predetermined offset value for the values of missing pixels or pixels with low reliability. In the present embodiment, the image information output from the sensor signal processing unit 103 after finishing the processing of S302 is referred to as a RAW image meaning a raw (undeveloped) image.

  In S303, the RAW reduction unit 109 generates a reduced RAW image from the above-described RAW image. In step S304, the live view development unit 111 performs development processing (live view development) on the reduced RAW image. At this time, the control unit 161 switches the switch unit 121 in the developing unit 110 and selects output of image information developed by the live view developing unit 111.

  The live view development unit 111 performs debayer processing (demosaic processing), that is, color interpolation processing, on the reduced RAW image, converts it into a signal composed of luminance and color difference (or primary color), and removes noise included in each signal. Development processing such as correcting optical distortion and optimizing the image is performed. Here, the development processing (simple development) performed by the live view development unit 111 will be described. The live view development unit 111 realizes high-speed development processing and simple processing by limiting or eliminating noise removal and optical distortion correction to a limited process. When the live view developing unit 111 handles a reduced RAW image or partially restricts the function of the development processing, the imaging apparatus 100 can perform shooting with a performance of, for example, 60 frames per second of 2 million pixels, with a small circuit scale. Can be realized with low power consumption.

  The image information developed by the live view developing unit 111 is supplied to the evaluation value calculating unit 105. In step S <b> 305, the evaluation value calculation unit 105 acquires evaluation values such as a focus state and an exposure state by calculation from luminance values and contrast values included in the image information. Note that the evaluation value calculation unit 105 may acquire a reduced RAW image before live view development and calculate some evaluation value from the reduced RAW image.

  The image information developed by the live view developing unit 111 is supplied to the recognition unit 131. In S306, the recognition unit 131 detects a subject (such as a face) from the image information and recognizes the subject information. For example, the presence / absence of the face in the image information, the position thereof, authentication of a specific person, and the like are performed, and the result is output as information.

  The image information developed by the live view developing unit 111 is supplied to the display processing unit 122. In step S307, the display processing unit 122 forms a display image from the acquired image information, and outputs the display image to the display unit 123 or an external display device for display. The display image by the display unit 123 is used for live view display (display of a photographed through image) for assisting the user in appropriately framing the subject. The display image may be displayed on another display device such as an external television from the display processing unit 122 via the video output terminal 124. Furthermore, the display processing unit 122 uses the evaluation value information and the subject information output from the evaluation value calculation unit 105 and the recognition unit 131 to mark, for example, a focused area on the displayed image, A frame can also be displayed at the position of the recognized face.

  In S308, the control unit 161 determines reception of a shooting instruction (recording instruction in the case of a moving image) from the user. If there is an instruction, the process proceeds to S310. If there is no instruction in S308, the process returns to S301, and the shooting (recording) preparation operation and live view display are repeated.

  In S310, in response to the above-described shooting instruction, the RAW compression unit 113 performs high-efficiency encoding (reduced RAW compression) of a reduced RAW image corresponding to an image to be captured (a plurality of continuous frames in the case of a moving image). To generate a reduced RAW file. Furthermore, in S311, in response to the above-described shooting instruction, the RAW compression unit 113 performs high-efficiency encoding (RAW compression) of a RAW image corresponding to an image to be shot (a plurality of continuous frames in the case of a moving image). To generate a RAW file. The high-efficiency encoding performed by the RAW compression unit 113 is processed by a known technique such as wavelet transform or entropy encoding, but may be lossy encoding or lossless encoding. In the present embodiment, even if RAW compression is performed, a RAW file that can be restored as a high-quality file that does not significantly impair the quality of the original RAW image is generated.

  In S <b> 312, the reduced RAW file is recorded in the buffer unit 115. In S313, the RAW file is recorded in the buffer unit 115. After any file is recorded in the buffer unit 115, the recording / reproducing unit 151 may record the recording on the subsequent recording medium at that time or after that. When the recording of the reduced RAW file and the RAW file to at least the buffer unit 115 is completed, the flow returns to S301.

  As described above, the imaging device 100 according to the present embodiment generates a RAW file in response to a still image or moving image shooting instruction (recording instruction) during shooting. In other periods during shooting, the camera is in shooting standby by displaying an image subjected to live view development. The RAW file is a high-quality file that does not significantly impair the image information supplied from the sensor signal processing unit 103, but development processing is not required to generate this file. Therefore, it is possible to record a RAW file with low power consumption by a small circuit while increasing the number of pixels of an image and the speed of continuous shooting during shooting.

  Next, the structure of various files according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of each file recorded in the present embodiment. 4A shows a reduced RAW file, FIG. 4B shows a RAW file, and FIG. 4C shows a high-quality developed file.

  The reduced RAW file 400 shown in FIG. 4A is recorded in, for example, a predetermined recording area of the recording medium 152 by the recording / playback unit 151. The reduced RAW file 400 includes a header part 401, a metadata part 402, and a compressed data part 403. The header portion 401 includes an identification code indicating that this file is in a reduced RAW file format. The compressed data portion 403 includes compressed data of a reduced RAW image that has been encoded with high efficiency. In the case of a reduced RAW file of moving images, compressed audio data is also included.

  The metadata unit 402 includes identification information 404 such as a file name of the corresponding RAW file generated at the same time as the reduced RAW file. If there is a high-quality developed file obtained by developing a high-quality image from the corresponding RAW file, the identification information 407 is stored. If the reduced RAW image has already been developed, the development status information 405 is included. Also, evaluation values and subject information detected by the evaluation value calculation unit 105 and the recognition unit 131 at the time of shooting, and information at the time of shooting from the optical unit 101 and the image sensor unit 102 (for example, lens type identification information, sensor type identification) Shooting metadata 406 including information etc.). Although not shown, it may further include an identification code of a recording medium on which a simultaneously generated RAW file is recorded, path information of a recorded folder, a thumbnail of the image, and the like.

  The RAW file 410 shown in FIG. 4B is recorded in, for example, a predetermined recording area of the recording medium 152 by the recording / playback unit 151. The RAW file 410 includes a header part 411, a metadata part 412, and a compressed data part 413. The header portion 411 includes an identification code indicating that this file is in the RAW file format. The compressed data portion 413 includes compressed data of a RAW image that has been encoded with high efficiency. In the case of a moving image RAW file, compressed audio data is also included.

  The metadata part 412 includes identification information 414 such as the file name of the corresponding reduced RAW file generated simultaneously with the RAW file. If there is a high-quality developed file obtained by high-quality development from this RAW image, the identification information 417 is stored. In addition, development status information 415 in the high-quality development is included. Also, evaluation values and subject information detected by the evaluation value calculation unit 105 and the recognition unit 131 at the time of shooting, and information at the time of shooting from the optical unit 101 and the image sensor unit 102 (for example, lens type identification information, sensor type identification) Shooting metadata 416 including information etc.). Although not shown, it may further include an identification code of a recording medium on which a simultaneously generated reduced RAW file is recorded, path information of a recorded folder, a thumbnail of the image, and the like. Alternatively, the actual data itself of the reduced RAW file generated simultaneously with the RAW file may be converted into metadata and stored in the metadata unit 412. Further, the actual data itself of the high-quality developed file corresponding to the RAW file may be converted into metadata and stored in the metadata unit 412.

  The high-quality developed file 420 shown in FIG. 4C is recorded in, for example, a predetermined recording area of the recording medium 152 by the recording / playback unit 151. The high-quality developed file 420 includes a header part 421, a metadata part 422, and a compressed data part 423. The header portion 421 includes an identification code indicating that this file is in a high-quality developed file format. The compressed data portion 423 includes compressed data of a still image portion and a moving image portion of a high-quality developed file. In the case of moving images, compressed audio data is also included.

  The metadata portion 422 includes identification information 424 such as a file name of a reduced RAW file corresponding to the high-quality developed file. Further, identification information 427 such as a file name of a RAW file corresponding to the high-quality developed file is included. Further, development status information 425 at the time of high-quality development of the high-quality developed file is included. Also, evaluation values and subject information detected by the evaluation value calculation unit 105 and the recognition unit 131 at the time of shooting, and information at the time of shooting from the optical unit 101 and the image sensor unit 102 (for example, lens type identification information, sensor type identification) Shooting metadata 426 including information). Although not shown, it may further include an identification code of a recording medium in which a corresponding RAW file or reduced RAW file is recorded, path information of a recorded folder, a thumbnail of the image, and the like.

  The structure of the various files according to this embodiment described above is an example, and a configuration having commonality with standards such as DCF and EXIF may be used. Note that DCF means Design rule for Camera File system, and EXIF means Exchangeable Image File format. Alternatively, a configuration having commonality with standards such as AVCHD and MXF may be used. AVCHD means Advanced Video Codec High Definition, and MXF means Material eXchange Format.

  Next, an example of high image quality development processing of the imaging apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart relating to the development processing of the present embodiment. The flowchart of FIG. 5 illustrates a processing procedure executed by controlling each processing block by the control unit 161. A program stored in a memory (ROM) of the control unit 161 is stored in the memory (RAM). This is realized by expanding and executing by the CPU.

  In FIG. 5, in the idle state, the control unit 161 determines whether or not to perform “follow-up development” according to the user setting (S501). If the follow-up development is not performed, the flow ends (returns) as it is. If the chase development is performed, the process proceeds to S520.

  The “chase development” according to the present embodiment is a method of reading a RAW file recorded in the buffer unit 115 or the recording medium 152 after the photographing operation, performing high-quality development on the RAW image, and developing high-quality development. This means processing for generating a completed image file. Since development processing is performed so as to follow the previously recorded RAW file, it is called follow-up development. The RAW file that is the target of the chase development according to the present embodiment may be both a still image and a moving image. However, a still image will be described below as an example.

  As described above, the recorded RAW file has a high quality that does not significantly impair the image information supplied from the sensor signal processing unit 103, but cannot be immediately applied to reproduction display or printing because it is data before development. , It takes time for RAW development when requested. In addition, since RAW is not a widely spread file such as JPEG, the playback environment that can handle RAW files is also limited. Therefore, the chasing development of this embodiment is an effective function. In the present embodiment, when the follow-up development is executed, a RAW file that has already been recorded is read out, and a high-quality development process is performed by the high-quality development unit 112, and a high-quality developed still image file that is generated is read out. Recording is performed on the recording medium 152 or the like. Then, such chasing development is executed in a state where the processing load of the apparatus is relatively low (idle) between shootings, during standby in a reproduction mode, or in waiting for a user operation such as a sleep state. The follow-up development may be manually activated, but it is preferable that the control unit 161 is designed to automatically execute in the background in a predetermined state. With this configuration, even if a request for reproducing a high-quality image such as confirmation display or printing of details of the image thereafter occurs, a delay due to development processing (reproduction output) does not occur each time. Thus, it can be used in a general operation environment similar to a conventional still image file.

  In S520 of FIG. 5, the control unit 161 determines whether the follow-up development has been processed or not processed for the target RAW file. As a determination method, for example, it is conceivable to determine whether or not a high-quality developed file has been created, and identification information in the RAW file 410. Alternatively, the same determination may be made with reference to the development status information 415 in the RAW file 410. Alternatively, it may be determined by preparing a separate table file indicating the execution status of the development processing for a series of RAW files.

  If the control unit 161 determines that the follow-up development has been processed for all target RAW files, the flow ends as it is (return), and the imaging apparatus 100 returns to the idle state. If there is a raw file that has not been subjected to the follow-up development, the process proceeds to S521. In S521, if the RAW file that has not been subjected to the follow-up development is buffered in the buffer unit 115, the process proceeds to S523, and if not buffered, the corresponding RAW file is read from the recording medium 152 or the like in S522. The RAW file read from the recording medium 152 or the like is temporarily held by the buffer unit 115.

  The buffer unit 115 updates the data so that the shooting order is preferentially held from the new image. That is, images taken in the past are sequentially removed from the buffer. By doing this, since the most recently captured image is always held in the buffer, S522 can be skipped and processing can be performed at high speed. Furthermore, if the follow-up development is executed by tracing back the time taken from the immediately preceding image, the processing can be completed preferentially from the image held in the buffer, so that the processing efficiency can be improved.

  In S523, the RAW decompression unit 114 decompresses the buffered RAW file read from the buffer unit 115 or the recording medium 152, and restores the RAW image. In step S <b> 524, the high-quality development unit 112 performs high-quality development processing on the restored RAW image, and the high-quality developed image is displayed on the display processing unit 122 and the still image compression unit 141 via the switch unit 121. Output. At this time, if the imaging device 100 can display an image developed later, the display unit 123 may display the display image.

  The high image quality developing unit 112 performs debayer processing (demosaic processing), that is, color interpolation processing on the RAW image, converts it into a signal composed of luminance and color difference (or primary color), removes noise contained in each signal, and optically Corrective distortion is corrected and the image is optimized. The size (number of pixels) of the developed image generated by the high image quality developing unit 112 is the full size read from the imaging sensor unit 102 or the size set by the user, so about 2 million pixels are set. The quality is much higher than that of live view development images. The high-quality image development unit 112 has higher accuracy in each process than the live view development unit 111, so that a developed image with higher image quality can be obtained. However, the processing load increases. The high image quality development unit 112 of the present embodiment is configured to suppress an increase in circuit scale and power consumption by avoiding real-time development processing in parallel with shooting and enabling development processing over time.

  The image information developed by the high image quality developing unit 112 is supplied to the still image compressing unit 141 or the moving image compressing unit 142. In the case of a still image, the still image compression unit 141 takes charge of compression. In S525, the still image compression unit 141 performs high-efficiency encoding processing (still image compression) on the acquired high-quality developed image, and generates a high-quality developed file (still image file). Note that the still image compression unit 141 performs compression processing using a known technique such as JPEG. In S526, the recording / playback unit 151 records the high-quality developed file on the recording medium 152 or the like.

  In S527, if the control unit 161 determines that the idle state is no longer in the middle of the flow, the process proceeds to an interruption process, and if not, the flow returns to S520. After S520, if there is a raw image that has not been subjected to the follow-up development, the same processing can be repeated for each image. On the other hand, in S528, when the follow-up development is interrupted, information at the time when the control unit 161 is interrupted (such as a RAW file to be interrupted and identification information indicating completion or incomplete development) is stored in the memory or the recording medium 152 as return information. (Suspend processing). Then, at the next follow-up development, the control unit 161 refers to the return information so that it can be resumed from the RAW file that has been interrupted. When the interruption process is completed, the imaging apparatus 100 returns to the idle state.

  The high-quality developed file recorded in S526 has a file structure as shown in FIG. In the metadata portion 422, information on the file name of the RAW file that is the source of the high-quality developed file is written. Also described is development status information 425 indicating that the high-quality developed file has been developed with high quality by the high-quality development unit 112 and the development content. Also, the evaluation value and subject information detected by the evaluation value calculation unit 105 and the recognition unit 131 extracted from the metadata of the original RAW file, and information at the time of shooting from the optical unit 101 and the image sensor unit 102 are displayed. The included shooting metadata 426 is copied. Furthermore, the recording / playback unit 151 also updates each piece of information in each metadata unit with the latest information on the generated high-quality developed file for the RAW file that is the source of the follow-up development and the reduced RAW file. .

  The recording / playback unit 151 can be easily identified by giving a file name similar or associated with the original RAW file to a new high-quality developed file recorded in S526 after high-quality development. Become. For example, the file names may be recorded as files that are substantially the same and only a part of the file name (for example, the extension or the last character) is changed.

  As described above, the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is in a state where the processing load of the apparatus is relatively low (idle) between shootings, during standby in a playback mode, and in waiting for a user operation such as a sleep state. Sometimes chase development. Then, a high-quality developed file is sequentially created from the RAW file. In this way, even when a request for reproduction of a high-quality image such as confirmation display or printing of an image detail is given, a delay due to development processing (reproduction output) does not occur each time, It can be used in a general operation environment similar to a conventional still image file.

  Next, operations related to the still image reproduction mode and the moving image reproduction mode of the imaging apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart relating to the reproduction processing of the present embodiment. The flowchart of FIG. 6 illustrates a processing procedure executed by controlling each processing block by the control unit 161. A program stored in a memory (ROM) included in the control unit 161 is stored in the memory (RAM). This is realized by expanding and executing by the CPU.

  In S601 of FIG. 6, the control unit 161 determines whether or not the reproduction process needs to be stopped. When stopping the reproduction process, the imaging apparatus 100 returns to the idle state. If the reproduction process is continued, the flow moves to S602.

  In step S602, the control unit 161 reads a reduced RAW image file as a reproduction process target, and determines whether to reproduce the reduced RAW image. As described above, since the RAW file has a high resolution, development takes time, and the high-quality developed file may not be generated. Therefore, the control unit 161 prioritizes the RAW image over the other during reproduction. To play. Since a reduced RAW image has about 2 million pixels, it can be processed at high speed in the same way as in live view development, can be developed immediately in response to a sudden request during reproduction, and can be reproduced at a rapid response speed. Can be realized. However, the reduced RAW image has a limited quality because it has undergone a reduction process. Although it is effective as a rough confirmation of an image, it may not be sufficient for the purpose of confirming details of an image or printing. Therefore, in the imaging apparatus 100, another image reproduction process is also performed depending on the application as described below.

  When reproducing a reduced RAW image, in step S620, the control unit 161 causes the buffer unit 115, the recording medium 152, or the like to reproduce a reduced RAW file to be reproduced. In step S621, the RAW expansion unit 114 expands the compressed reduced RAW image obtained from the reproduced reduced RAW file. In step S <b> 622, the high image quality developing unit 112 develops the expanded reduced RAW image to generate a reproduced image, and supplies the reproduced image to the display processing unit 122. Note that the development of the reduced RAW image in S622 is performed by the high image quality development unit 112, but the live view development unit 111 may perform the development.

  When the reduced RAW image is not reproduced, in step S603, the control unit 161 determines whether to reproduce the high-quality developed image. A high-quality developed image can be reproduced on the condition that the above-described chasing development has been performed or that high-quality development by reproduction of a RAW file has already been completed in response to a user request. When reproducing a high-quality developed image, in S630, the control unit 161 reproduces a high-quality developed file to be reproduced from the recording medium 152 or the like. In step S631, the still image expansion unit 143 or the moving image expansion unit 144 expands the compressed high-quality developed image obtained from the reproduced high-quality developed file to generate a reproduction image (still image or moving image). Then, the data is supplied to the display processing unit 122.

  If the reduced RAW image is not reproduced and the high-quality developed image is not reproduced, the RAW file is reproduced. Here, an example of a usage environment in which a RAW file is played back in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of display processing according to the present embodiment. FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C are examples of image display at different timings.

  A display example 700 in FIG. 7A is an example in which the six images 701 are reduced and displayed on the display unit 123 in a reduced manner. The display state is a list display. A display example 710 in FIG. 7B is an example in which an entire image 711 is displayed on the display unit 123, and this display state is a normal display. A display example 720 in FIG. 7C is an example in which an image 721 obtained by enlarging a partial area of a certain image is displayed on the display unit 123, and this display state is an enlarged display. For example, in the case where confirmation such as detailed display of a photographed image, partial extraction (trimming), or checking of appropriateness of focus is performed, a method of enlarging and displaying a part of a subject image as in display example 720 is assumed. Is done.

  In the case of the display examples 700 and 710, the display of the reproduced image obtained from the reduced RAW image is sufficient in terms of resolution. However, when the enlarged display is performed as in the display example 720, since the resolution of the reduced RAW image is insufficient (a reduction in resolution is caused), it is preferable to reproduce and display a RAW file having a high resolution. For example, when performing enlarged display of a playback image in this way, the flow transitions to playback of a RAW file after S604.

  When playing back a RAW image, in step S <b> 604, the control unit 161 determines whether the RAW file to be played is buffered in the buffer unit 115. If the RAW file is buffered, the flow proceeds to S606, and if not, the flow proceeds to S605. In step S <b> 605, the control unit 161 reads a RAW file to be played back from the recording medium 152 or the like and causes the buffer unit 115 to buffer the RAW file.

  The buffer unit 115 updates the data so that the new image captured in the imaging mode is preferentially retained. That is, images taken in the past are sequentially removed from the buffer. By doing so, since the image taken immediately before is always held in the buffer, S605 is skipped and the display can be performed at high speed.

  In step S606, the RAW decompression unit 114 obtains a buffered RAW file, and decompresses the compressed RAW image obtained from the RAW file. In step S <b> 607, the high image quality developing unit 112 generates a reproduced image by developing the expanded RAW image with high image quality, and supplies the reproduced image to the display processing unit 122. Note that the image capturing apparatus 100 can also newly create a high-quality development file corresponding to the RAW file to be reproduced by the high-quality development in S607.

  In step S <b> 608, the display processing unit 122 outputs any reproduced image corresponding to the reproduction target to the display unit 123 and displays it. The display form is as shown in each figure of FIG. The display processing unit 122 can also output a display image from the video output terminal 124 to an external device. When the display of S608 is performed, the flow returns to S601.

  It is assumed that the reproduction of the RAW file after S604 in FIG. 6 occurs at a timing when the follow-up development is not yet executed. In other words, even in the case of enlarged display that requires high image quality, if a high-quality developed file has been created, a high-quality developed image can be provided without newly developing the RAW file. In this embodiment, follow-up development is executed when the processing load on the apparatus is relatively low (idle) between shootings, during standby in playback mode, or waiting for a user operation such as a sleep state. . In addition, a high-quality developed file can be created even when a RAW file is reproduced by a user instruction. Then, a high-quality developed file is created sequentially from the RAW file. In this way, the higher the high-quality development is performed in advance, the less frequently the high-quality development occurs at the point of time when the enlarged display is requested, so that a high-quality image can be output more quickly with respect to the enlarged display. Therefore, the operability is expected to increase further.

  In addition, as described above, when the RAW file is buffered in the buffer unit 115, since S605 can be skipped, an image can be displayed faster. Therefore, when the display examples 700 and 710 in FIG. 7 are performed so that the RAW file is held as much as possible in the buffer unit 115, a RAW file corresponding to the image 701 and the image 711 is recorded in advance in preparation for enlarged display. It is preferable to read the data from the data and move to the buffer unit 115. Prior to the enlargement display instruction, when the recording / playback unit 151 reads and buffers the corresponding RAW file from the recording medium 152 or the like, when the enlargement display instruction as in the display example 720 is given, It is possible to display with a faster response speed.

  Next, an operation related to the editing mode of the imaging apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an editing device (external device) that performs editing processing, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart relating to editing processing and editing execution of the present embodiment. Each flowchart in FIG. 9 illustrates a processing procedure executed by controlling each processing block by the control unit 161. A program stored in a memory (ROM) included in the control unit 161 is stored in the memory (RAM). This is realized by being expanded and executed by the CPU.

  In FIG. 8, an editing apparatus 800 is an external apparatus of the image capturing apparatus 100. Specifically, the editing apparatus 800 is an external storage or server, a portable information terminal (tablet, smartphone, etc.), a personal computer (PC), or the like. The editing device 800 can send and receive various files and related information to and from the imaging device 100. The communication unit 802 has a configuration in which the imaging device 100 can be accessed using the communication terminal 801 via the Internet by wireless communication or wired communication or by direct communication between devices.

  During the editing process or in advance, the editing apparatus 800 acquires a reduced RAW file from the external imaging apparatus 100 connected to the network via the communication unit 802. The received reduced RAW file is stored in the recording medium 803 via the internal bus 811. An internal bus 811 is connected to each unit in the editing apparatus 800 and is used as a data bus or a system bus.

  The editing process is performed using image information obtained by expanding and developing the reduced RAW file. The RAW expansion unit 804 reads a desired reduced RAW file stored in the recording medium 803 and expands the reduced RAW image in a compressed state. The RAW development unit 805 develops the expanded reduced RAW image. An image developed from the reduced RAW image is displayed on the display unit 809.

  The control unit 808 includes a CPU and a memory (not shown) that stores application programs and control programs executed by the CPU, and controls editing processing. The editing process is executed by the user monitoring the image displayed on the display unit 809 and receiving an editing instruction under the control of the editing application program executed by the control unit 808. An editing instruction from the user is input from the user interface unit 807. The user interface unit 807 uses, for example, an operation unit using a touch panel, a mouse, a keyboard, a dedicated or general-purpose console, and display information by an editing application.

  In accordance with an editing instruction from the user interface unit 807, arbitrary scene selection or effect addition by applying cut-in / cut-out is applied to a reduced RAW image to be displayed in the case of trimming, synthesis, or moving image. Is done. In response to the editing content, the editing information generation unit 806 generates editing information. The editing information is data obtained by converting the editing content applied to the image obtained from the reduced RAW image, and in the case of a still image or a moving image, whether or not editing is applied for each frame and the editing content are described. Further, the editing information may include actual data of a reduced RAW image that has been subjected to editing processing. Such editing information is recorded on the recording medium 803 and transmitted to the imaging apparatus 100 in response to a request from the imaging apparatus 100.

  Next, the flow of editing processing and editing execution in the imaging apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9A shows an editing process flow, and FIG. 9B shows an editing execution flow. When the editing process is started, the control unit 161 determines whether or not the editing process needs to be stopped in S901 of FIG. 9A. When the editing process is stopped, the imaging apparatus 100 returns to the idle state. When the editing process is continued, the flow moves to S902.

  In step S902, the control unit 161 transmits a reduced RAW file corresponding to the RAW file to be edited to the editing apparatus 800, which is an external apparatus, as editing data. In step S <b> 903, the control unit 161 issues an editing command to the editing apparatus 800. The editing command is sent to the control unit 808 and serves as an editing information generation instruction for the editing device 800. In addition, this flow returns to S901 after S903.

  In response to the editing command described above, the editing device 800 performs editing processing as described above to generate editing information. On the condition that the editing apparatus 800 has finished generating the editing information, the control unit 161 can start the editing execution flow of FIG.

  When execution of editing is started, the control unit 161 determines whether or not it is necessary to stop editing in S911 of FIG. 9B. When the execution of editing is stopped, the imaging apparatus 100 returns to the idle state. If the edit execution is to be continued, the flow moves to S912.

  In step S <b> 912, the control unit 161 receives editing information corresponding to the RAW file to be edited from the editing apparatus 800 using the communication unit 153. With reference to the editing information, in step S913, the control unit 161 applies editing or reproduction according to the content described in the received editing information to the RAW file or the reduced RAW file in the imaging apparatus 100. That is, the editing content for the reduced RAW image performed by the editing apparatus 800 is reproduced in the imaging apparatus 100 as an original RAW image or a reduced RAW image. In addition, this flow returns to S911 after S913. The RAW image edited and executed in this way may be saved as a file by updating the original file. However, by saving the original image and the editing information, the original image is reproduced each time it is played back. Then, the editing information may be reflected and reproduced (edited).

  In this way, the reduced RAW image is used as editing data or as a proxy for the RAW image, and the configuration is such that editing is performed using an external device. This not only streamlines editing and improves performance, but also the entire system. As a result, the load on the editing process can be reduced.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, an imaging apparatus 1000 is shown as an example as an image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The imaging apparatus 1000 not only records image information obtained by imaging a subject on a recording medium, but also reproduces the image information from the recording medium, displays it by developing, and displays the image information on an external device or It has a function of sending and receiving and editing with a server (cloud). Therefore, the image processing apparatus according to the present embodiment can be expressed not only as an imaging apparatus but also as a recording apparatus, a reproducing apparatus, a recording / reproducing apparatus, a communication apparatus, an editing apparatus, an image processing system, an editing system, or the like. it can.

  In the imaging apparatus 1000 according to the present embodiment, the same components as those of the imaging apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  In FIG. 10, the imaging apparatus 1000 includes an imaging module 170 that forms an imaging unit and an image processing module 180 that forms an image processing unit, and the imaging module 170 and the image processing module 180 are connected by a bus 107. Raw data or the like obtained by imaging in the imaging module 170 is supplied to the image processing module 180 through the bus 107. The imaging module 170 includes an imaging sensor unit 102, a sensor signal processing unit 103, a camera control unit 104, and an encoding unit 106. The image processing module 180 includes a decoding unit 108, a RAW reduction unit 109, a development unit 110, a live view development unit 111, a high image quality development unit 112, a switch unit 121, a RAW compression unit 113, a RAW expansion unit 114, and a buffer unit 115. Have. Further, the image processing module 180 includes an evaluation value calculation unit 105, a recognition unit 131, a display processing unit 122, a still image compression unit 141, a moving image compression unit 142, a still image expansion unit 143, a moving image expansion unit 144, a recording / playback unit 151, and the like. A control unit 161 is included. In addition, the imaging apparatus 1000 includes an optical unit 101, a display unit 123, a video output terminal 124, a communication unit 153, a communication terminal 154, and a built-in or detachable recording medium 152.

  Regarding the imaging apparatus 1000 according to the present embodiment, a configuration different from the imaging apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment described above will be described in detail. The imaging module 170 includes the encoding unit 106 inside. This is due to the purpose of compressing the RAW data in order to reduce the pressure on the communication band when it is transmitted through the bus 107 because the RAW data is enormous. As the encoding process (compression process) in the encoding unit 106, for example, a compression method using DPCM (Differential Pulse Code Modulation) and Golomb encoding can be applied. This method is a method for reducing the amount of pixel information by Golomb encoding the difference value between pixel data of DPCM-processed pixel data. Alternatively, a compression method that deletes unnecessary high frequency components of pixel data using a one-dimensional DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) may be used. In any case, the compression rate may be fixed, but it may be designed so that it can be adjusted according to a user instruction, a shooting mode, or the like.

  At the time of shooting, pixel data converted from the subject image by the imaging sensor unit 102 is subjected to pixel restoration processing by the sensor signal processing unit 103. The restoration process includes a process of interpolating a pixel to be restored using a peripheral pixel value or subtracting a predetermined offset value from a missing pixel value or a low-reliability pixel value in the image sensor unit 102. It is. It should be noted that a part or all of the repair processing may be changed to be performed at the subsequent development stage without being performed at this point.

  The encoding unit 106 encodes the pixel data supplied from the sensor signal processing unit 103 by the method described above. Then, the pixel data compressed by the encoding process is transmitted to the image processing module 180 via the bus 107. The compressed pixel data is decoded by the decoding unit 108 arranged at the input part in the image processing module 180. The decoding unit 108 decodes the compressed pixel data by performing the inverse transform of the preceding encoding unit 106.

  In the present embodiment, the pixel data compressed by the encoding unit 106 and further decoded by the decoding unit 108 is referred to as a RAW image that means a raw (undeveloped) image. Even a RAW image that has been compressed once can be handled as a high-quality RAW image, as in the first embodiment.

  Thereafter, the RAW image is supplied to the RAW compression unit 113 and compressed again in order to efficiently record. The size of the RAW image is reduced by the RAW reduction unit 109 for the purpose of efficiently displaying and reproducing. The RAW reduction unit 109 resizes the input RAW image to, for example, an HD size (equivalent to 200 pixels) to generate a reduced RAW image. Subsequent processing of RAW images and reduced RAW images is the same as in the first embodiment.

  In the image processing module 180, the decoding unit 108 and the RAW expansion unit 114, which are common in terms of performing expansion / decoding of a compressed RAW image, have a common configuration or integration of some or all of the processing circuits. It may be realized by an integrated circuit.

  Each processing procedure of imaging processing, development processing, reproduction processing, editing processing, and editing execution for the imaging apparatus 1000 according to the present embodiment and the configuration of various files to be created are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the same function as that of the first embodiment can be realized, and the transmission efficiency of the RAW data in the imaging apparatus 1000 can be improved.

  The above is the description of the first and second embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention, and is changed as appropriate according to the target circuit form. Should be adapted.

  The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus read and execute the program This process can be realized. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Imaging device 101 Optical part 102 Imaging sensor part 103 Sensor signal processing part 104 Camera control part 105 Evaluation value calculation part 109 RAW reduction part 110 Developing part 111 Live view developing part 112 High image quality developing part 113 RAW compression part 114 RAW expansion part 115 Buffer unit 121 Switch unit 122 Display processing unit 123 Display unit 124 Video output terminal 131 Recognition unit 141 Still image compression unit 142 Video compression unit 143 Still image expansion unit 144 Video expansion unit 151 Recording / playback unit 152 Recording medium 153 Communication unit 154 Communication terminal

Claims (7)

Imaging means for capturing a subject image and generating a RAW image;
Reduction means for reducing the RAW image to generate a reduced RAW image;
First developing means for acquiring the reduced RAW image at the time of shooting and performing development processing;
Recording means for recording the RAW image and the reduced RAW image on a recording medium,
Instruction means for instructing reproduction of the RAW image recorded on the recording medium;
A second developing means for acquiring the reduced RAW image recorded on the recording medium and performing a developing process in response to a reproduction instruction;
An image pickup apparatus comprising: display processing means for displaying a reproduced image developed by the second developing means. The first developing means performs display development for developing a photographed image in real time,
The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second developing unit performs reproduction development, which is a development process with higher image quality than the first developing unit, in order to reproduce a recorded image. .   If the RAW image recorded on the recording medium has been developed in accordance with the reproduction instruction, the developed image of the RAW image is reproduced, and if not, the reduced RAW image is converted to the first RAW image. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that develops and reproduces the image by the two developing units. The second developing means acquires the RAW image recorded on the recording medium according to a predetermined condition and performs development processing,
4. The recording unit according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit generates a high-quality developed image file from the developed image of the RAW image generated by the second developing unit, and records the generated image file on the recording medium. The imaging device according to any one of the above. An imaging step of capturing a subject image to generate a RAW image;
A reduction step of reducing the RAW image to generate a reduced RAW image;
A first development step of acquiring the reduced RAW image at the time of shooting and performing development processing;
A recording step of recording the RAW image and the reduced RAW image on a recording medium;
An instruction step for instructing reproduction of the RAW image recorded on the recording medium;
A second development step of acquiring the reduced RAW image recorded on the recording medium and performing development processing in response to a reproduction instruction;
A display processing step of displaying the reproduced image developed by the second development step.   The program for functioning a computer as each means of the imaging device of any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 6 is recorded.

Images