JPH10161200A - Image pickup method and image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image pickup method and an image pickup device capable of obtaining a high-quality image. SOLUTION: Before light emission to expose the image pickup element unit 5 by using a stroboscope 8 in the case plural images are picked up by the unit 5 and the picked-up images are composited, the stroboscope 8 is allowed to preliminarily emit light at least once without exposing an image pickup element. After using emitted light at the second and succeeding light emission where the fluctuation of emitted light quantity is small for exposure or exposure is performed in all the light emission of plural times without performing the preliminary light emission, the image obtained by picking up the image at least once from the beginning is not used to composite the image but the image obtained by using the emitted light at the second and succeeding light emission where the fluctuation of the emitted light quantity is small is used to composite the image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup method and an image pickup apparatus capable of obtaining a high-quality image, and more particularly, to acquiring and synthesizing a plurality of images having a small difference in luminance to obtain a high-quality image. The present invention relates to an imaging method and an imaging device to be acquired.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known an imaging technique for generating a high quality image by capturing a plurality of images and synthesizing them. When synthesizing images using this type of technology, the difference between the brightness of a plurality of images to be synthesized and the brightness or the like that would be obtained when a corresponding amount of light is applied to a corresponding subject is determined. , It is desirable to be substantially uniform. For example, R
(Red), G (green), and B (blue) When an image is acquired by light that has passed through the filters and these images are combined to form a full-color image, R, The difference between the luminance of the G and B images and the magnitude of the R, G and B color components of the luminance that would be obtained when the subject is illuminated with white light must be kept at approximately the same level. There is.

[0003] In the above-described image pickup apparatus, when a shortage of light amount of a subject is to be compensated, a strobe is emitted and an image is taken while irradiating the subject with the strobe light.

[0004]

However, when strobes are continuously fired in order to acquire a plurality of images, the amount of light emitted from the strobe generally attenuates rapidly in accordance with the number of flashes as shown in FIG. , Converge to a constant light quantity. For this reason,
When a strobe is used, there is a problem that the difference in luminance between the images to be synthesized becomes very large, and as a result, a high-quality synthesized image may not be obtained.

Further, when a person or the like is imaged by such an imaging method, there is also a problem that a pupil photographed in a state where a pupil of the person or the like is enlarged appears red, which may occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an imaging method and an imaging apparatus capable of acquiring a high-quality image. It is another object of the present invention to provide an imaging method and an imaging apparatus capable of reducing a difference in luminance between images when a plurality of images are acquired using a strobe.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an imaging method according to a first aspect of the present invention is an imaging method in which a plurality of images are captured by an imaging element and the captured images are combined. When taking an image using a strobe, the strobe is emitted at least once without exposing the image sensor before exposing the image sensor a plurality of times, or the strobe is used. An image obtained by performing at least one image pickup from the beginning and not being used is not used for the synthesis.

According to this imaging method, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, when a strobe having a characteristic that when emitted continuously, the amount of emitted light decreases and converges to a constant amount of light for each emission, is used. In addition, the light emission several times from the beginning with a large light amount can be used for preliminary light emission, and the light emission after a small difference between the light emission amounts can be used as a light source for imaging. Therefore, the difference in luminance between the image data of a plurality of times of image pickup (that is, for each image, the luminance of the image actually obtained and the luminance that would have been obtained if the light emission amount was a certain value) The difference between the two images is also small), and the quality of the synthesized image generated by synthesizing the image data is high. In addition, since the pupil of a person or the like reacts to the preliminary light emission and contracts in advance, the occurrence of the red-eye phenomenon caused by imaging the pupil with the pupil expanded is prevented.

An image pickup method for picking up a plurality of images with an image pickup device and synthesizing the picked-up images, wherein when the image is picked up using a strobe, a plurality of light emission for exposing the image pickup device is performed. Previously, the strobe light is emitted at least once without exposing the image sensor. Instead, an image obtained by using the strobe and obtained at least once from the beginning is used for the synthesis. May be adopted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup apparatus for picking up an image, a strobe for emitting light toward a subject, a light emitting device for the strobe, and a reflected light of the light from the strobe. Control means for causing the imaging means to capture an image,
The control unit includes a unit that causes the strobe to emit light a plurality of times and, when capturing a plurality of images by the imaging unit using the emission, causes the strobe to emit light at least once before the first imaging. Features.

According to this imaging apparatus, since the preliminary light emission is performed, the difference in luminance between a plurality of images to be captured can be reduced. Therefore, when combining these images, the quality of the generated combined image can be made higher. Further, since the preliminary light emission is performed, the red-eye phenomenon is also prevented.

[0012] The image processing apparatus may further include a synthesizing means for synthesizing a plurality of images acquired by the imaging device under the control of the control circuit.

[0013] When the synthesizing means is provided, instead of the means for emitting the strobe light at least once before the first image pickup, at least one image obtained by the first at least one image pickup is combined with the at least one image. Means may be provided so as not to be used.

A change in the amount of light emitted from the strobe is large when the strobe is continuously emitted in a short time. Therefore, it is preferable that the control circuit emits the strobe light at least once before the first image pickup when the strobe light is continuously emitted in a short time and an image is taken.

According to the present invention, the light emission amount of the strobe is, for example, a difference between any two of the light amounts at a predetermined number of times from the first light emission, Greater than the change between any two emissions of
This is particularly effective in cases.

According to such an image pickup apparatus, by performing preliminary light emission, image pickup is performed using strobe light emission having a small difference in light emission amount between each light emission. Obtainable.

The image pickup means is composed of, for example, a solid-state image pickup device such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a photosensitive film such as a silver halide film.

In the case where the image pickup apparatus is provided with a controllable optical path means such as a lens system, the strobe can be made to emit the light at least once while controlling the optical system. In addition, the imaging time can be reduced.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An imaging apparatus and an imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a specific configuration of an imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the imaging apparatus includes a shutter button 1, a control circuit 2, an optical system control mechanism 3, an optical system 4, an image sensor unit 5, a memory 6, a strobe light emitting circuit 7, a strobe 8 , A display circuit 9, an exposure meter 10, and a mode setting unit 11.

The shutter button 1 is composed of a push button or the like, and outputs a signal when pressed. The control circuit 2
It is composed of a microprocessor or the like, and controls the entire operation of the image pickup apparatus including image pickup processing, image synthesis processing, optical system control processing, strobe light emission processing, and the like, which will be described later, according to a program stored in an internal memory or the like.

The optical system 4 includes a lens system and the like, and guides an image to be imaged on an image sensor. The optical system control mechanism 3 controls the optical system 4 according to the control of the control circuit 2.

The image sensor unit 5 includes an image sensor such as a charge-coupled device (CCD).
According to the control from, the image pickup device picks up the image supplied via the optical system 4. The memory 6 is composed of a backed-up RAM or the like, and under the control of the control circuit 2,
The image data captured by the image sensor unit 5 is stored.

The strobe light emission circuit 7 causes the strobe light 8 to emit light in response to a light emission instruction signal from the control circuit 2. The strobe light emitting circuit 7 includes a relatively large-capacity capacitor therein, and when the strobe 8 is to emit light continuously, part of the electric charge stored in advance in this capacitor is sequentially supplied to the strobe to emit light. . As shown in FIG. 2, the strobe light emitting circuit 7 and the strobe light 8 have such characteristics that, when they emit light continuously, the amount of emitted light rapidly decreases at first in accordance with the number of times of light emission, and eventually converges to a constant amount. In other words, the amount of change in the amount of emitted light has such a characteristic that the difference between the first emission and the second emission is greater than the amount of change between any two of the other emissions.

The display circuit 9 includes a liquid crystal display element and the like.
A message to the photographer, a synthesized captured image, and the like are displayed. The light meter 10 determines the degree of exposure, that is, the brightness of the subject, and notifies the control circuit 2. The mode setting unit 11
Instructs the control circuit 2 to switch between a single shooting mode in which one image is obtained by one operation of the shutter button 1 and a continuous shooting mode in which a plurality of images are obtained by one operation of the shutter button 1 and synthesized. I do.

Next, the image pickup operation of this image pickup apparatus will be described with reference to an example in which four images are photographed using a strobe and one image is generated by combining the four images. It will be described with reference to FIG. It is assumed that the operator operates the mode setting unit 11 to set the continuous shooting mode in advance (timing T1).

First, when the shutter button 1 is pressed (timing T2), the shutter button 1
Is given a trigger signal for instructing the start of the imaging sequence. In response to the trigger signal, the control circuit 2 controls the optical system 4 via the optical system control mechanism 3 (process P).
1). For example, the lens constituting the optical system 4 is driven by the optical system control mechanism 3 to form an image of the subject on the imaging surface of the image sensor of the image sensor unit 5.

While the optical system control mechanism 3 controls the optical system 4, the control circuit 2 determines whether or not to emit a flash from the output of the exposure meter 10. Because the amount of exposure light is insufficient,
If it is determined that the strobe 8 needs to be fired, the control circuit 2 drives the strobe light emitting circuit 7 while the optical system control mechanism 3 controls the optical system 4 to emit the strobe once. (Process P2). At this time, the control circuit 2
Does not output an exposure signal to the image sensor unit 5, and no image is taken.

Subsequently, when the optical system control mechanism 3 outputs a notification to the effect that the control of the optical system 4 has been completed to the control circuit 2 (timing T3), the control circuit 2 causes the image sensor unit 5 to start imaging. At the same time (timing T4), the strobe 8 is caused to emit light via the strobe light emitting circuit 7 and the acquired image (image data) is transferred to the memory 6 (process P).
3).

When the first imaging is completed (at timing T
5), the control circuit 2 controls the optical system 4 again via the optical system control mechanism 3 (process P4). However, during this time, the strobe 8 does not emit light. When a notification to the effect that the control of the optical system 4 is completed is output from the optical system control mechanism 3 to the control circuit 2, the control circuit 2
Then, the strobe 8 is caused to emit light and the image pickup device unit 5 performs image pickup, and the obtained image is transferred to the memory 6 (process P5).

When the second imaging is completed, the control circuit 2
Controls the optical system 4 for the third and fourth times, causes the strobe 8 to emit the fourth and fifth times, and causes the image sensor unit 5 to perform imaging.

When the light emission of five times and the imaging of four times are completed, the control circuit 2 stores the four
The images (image data) are read out and combined, stored as one image in the memory 6 and displayed on the display circuit 9. In addition, printing may be performed according to an instruction from the operator.

In this imaging apparatus, as shown in FIG. 2, the first light emission whose light quantity is significantly larger than that of the subsequent light emission is used for preliminary light emission, and as a light source for imaging, the difference between the light emission quantities is small. Allocate luminescence after the first time. As a result, the difference in luminance between the four captured images is also small. Therefore, the image quality of the finally synthesized image is higher than that of the conventional image in which the luminances of the four images are greatly different. In addition, since the pupil of a person or the like contracts in advance in response to the preliminary light emission, the occurrence of the red-eye phenomenon caused by imaging the pupil with the pupil expanded is prevented.

In the above embodiment, the control circuit 2
If it is determined from the output of the light meter 10 that the strobe 8 does not need to be emitted, four images are taken without emitting the strobe and these are combined. When the operation mode is set to the single shooting mode, the image capturing sequence ends when one image is captured and stored in the memory 6. In this case, no preliminary light emission is performed.

The number of times of preliminary light emission is not limited to one, and can be arbitrarily selected according to the attenuation characteristic of the amount of light emitted from the strobe 8. For example, preliminary light emission may be performed twice or more. For example, in the timing chart of FIG. 3, the strobe 8 is caused to emit light twice or more during the first control of the optical system 4,
The light emission after the third time is used for exposure.

It should be noted that, after performing the image pickup operation at all the light emission times without performing the preliminary light emission, the image obtained as a result of the first or arbitrary plural times of the image pickup is used for image synthesis. Instead of using it, it may be used for test photography, evaluation of the amount of flash light emission, and the like.

The number of images used for synthesis is arbitrary, and may be 2 or 3, or 5 or more. The method of synthesizing images is arbitrary. For example, four images of the same subject may be simply acquired and combined. Also,
For example, a full-color image can be generated by imaging the same subject with light of different wavelengths using a color filter or the like, and combining a plurality of captured images. Alternatively, one image may be generated by imaging different subjects and combining (connecting) them. The optical system 4 has a configuration corresponding to these image synthesis techniques.

The image pickup device does not need to be constituted by a CCD, and any other image pickup device can be used. Further, a photosensitive film such as a silver-lead film can be used as the image pickup device. When a photosensitive film is used, a shutter (such as a mechanical shutter) is arranged in the optical system 4 as in a normal camera, and light is guided onto the photosensitive film only during exposure.

Next, specific examples of the optical system control mechanism 3, the image pickup device unit 5, and the image synthesizing method will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 5, the optical system control mechanism includes a base plate 12, a movable plate 13, a transparent parallel plate 14, electromagnetic drive units 15 to 18, an angle regulating member 20, a crystal filter 21, a magnet It is composed of a support part 22 and a coil support part 23.

The image pickup device unit 5 includes magenta,
This is a CCD device composed of four types of light receiving pixels that receive one color each of green, cyan, and yellow. As shown in FIG. 7 (a), each light receiving pixel is rectangular, and four light receiving pixels for each of the above colors are arranged at the four corners of a square similar to the square and four times the length of each side.
Each set is arranged to form one set, and this set is arranged in a matrix.

The base plate 12 is a substantially octagonal flat plate as shown in FIG. 5, and is fixed substantially perpendicular to the optical axis 43 as shown in FIG. A crystal filter 21 is provided at the center thereof, and is fixed at a position where light transmitted therethrough enters the image sensor unit 5. On each side of the peripheral portion of the base plate 12, four magnet support portions 22 formed in a substantially “U” shape are provided so as to face every other one.

The movable plate 13 is a substantially circular flat plate having a size substantially inscribed in the four magnet support portions 22 of the base plate 12. As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, a transparent plane parallel plate 14 is provided at the center thereof, and light transmitted therethrough is incident on the crystal filter 21, and as a result, is incident on the image sensor unit 5. It is fixed to. At four positions on the peripheral edge of the movable plate 13 corresponding to the positions of the magnet support portions 22,
A substantially "U" -shaped coil support portion 23 is provided.

Each of the four electromagnetic drive units 15 to 18 has a first electromagnetic coil 25 to 28 for tilt control for generating a magnetic field by a drive current, and the first electromagnetic coil 25
And magnet parts 30 to 33 arranged opposite to
It comprises second electromagnetic coils 34 to 37 for position control provided on the electromagnetic coils 25 to 28.

The first electromagnetic coils 25 to 28 are
And the inside portions 22a of the respective magnet support portions 22 of the base plate 12 are movably inserted therein.

The magnet portions 30 to 33 are attached to the outer portions 22b of the respective magnet support portions 22 of the base plate 12 in correspondence with the first electromagnetic coils 25 to 28, respectively.

Each of the second electromagnetic coils 34 to 37 is
The first electromagnetic coil 25 faces each of the first electromagnetic coil 25
28 are respectively provided on the outer surfaces.

First electromagnetic coils 25 to 28 for tilt control
When the drive current is applied to generate a magnetic field, the movable plate 13 moves along the optical axis 43 due to the mutual magnetic force between the first electromagnetic coils 25 to 28 and the magnet units 30 to 33.
Is tilted with respect to the optical axis 43. When the drive current is applied to generate a magnetic field, the second electromagnetic coils 34 to 37 for position control generate a magnetic field with the second electromagnetic coils 34 to 37 and the magnet units 30 to 33.
The center of the parallel flat plate 14 is shifted by the optical axis 4
The movable plate 13 is urged in the direction coinciding with the position 3 to control the position of the plane parallel plate 14 in the surface direction.

The angle restricting member 20 includes four stoppers 38 to 41 provided on the periphery of the base plate 12 located between the four electromagnetic drive units 15 to 18, that is, between the magnets 30 to 33. And a cushion material 42 such as a sponge.

As shown in FIG. 6B, each of the stoppers 38 to 41 is structured so as to sandwich the peripheral edge of the movable plate 13 with the cushion member 42 interposed therebetween. When the movable plate 13 is inclined with respect to the optical axis 43 by the electromagnetic drive units 15 to 18, the surface of the peripheral portion of the movable plate 13 (that is, the surface on the captured image side) and the back surface (that is, the image The element unit 5 side surface) contacts the opposing contact surface to regulate the tilt of the movable plate 13 to a fixed angle.

Next, the operation of the optical system control mechanism in the continuous shooting mode will be described with reference to FIG. 3 and FIGS. (Note that the setting to the continuous shooting mode is made at the timing T1.) First, the shutter button 1 is pressed (at the timing T1).
2) When a trigger signal for instructing the start of the imaging sequence is given to the control circuit 2, the control circuit 2 gives a positive drive current to the first electromagnetic coil 25 in response to the trigger signal, and faces the first electromagnetic coil 25. A negative drive current is applied to the first electromagnetic coil 27 at the position. On the other hand, the first electromagnetic coils 26 and 28
No drive current is supplied to the.

Then, the first electromagnetic coil 25 is
The first electromagnetic coil 27 moves toward the captured image side (upward in FIG. 6A) along the optical axis 43 due to the mutual magnetic force with 0, and conversely, the first electromagnetic coil 27 Axis 4
It moves to the opposite side of the image sensor unit 5 (downward in the figure) along 3. As a result, the movable plate 13 tilts, and the parallel flat plate 14 tilts with respect to the optical axis 43.

The edge of the inclined movable plate 13 has its surface in contact with the contact surface of the stopper portions 38 and 41 on the imaged image side (upper side in FIG. 6B), and its back surface has the stopper portions 39 and 40. Abut on the image sensor unit 5 side (the lower side in the figure). Thereby, the inclination of the movable plate 13 is regulated, and the inclination of the parallel plane plate 14 is regulated to a fixed angle (process P1).

At this time, the light incident on the plane-parallel plate 14 is
As shown in FIG. 8, the outgoing light 4 refracted by the parallel plane plate 14 and whose optical path has moved to the side of the electromagnetic coil 25 almost in parallel.
The light is emitted as 5 and then reaches the image sensor unit 5 after passing through the crystal filter 21. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, when the incident light on the parallel plane plate 14 reaches the image sensor unit 5, the position where the incident light reaches when the incident light is not refracted (that is, both the X and Y coordinates in FIG. (The coordinates on the plane parallel plate 14 are assumed to be set as shown in FIG. 7B.) The position is shifted to the upper right by one light receiving pixel.

While the parallel flat plate 14 performs the operation of tilting to the predetermined position, the control circuit 2 determines whether or not the strobe 8 emits light. Driving causes the strobe to emit light once (process P2). At this time, the control circuit 2 does not output an exposure signal to the imaging element unit 5 and imaging is not performed.

Subsequently, when the optical system control mechanism 3 outputs a notification to the control circuit 2 that the operation of tilting the parallel flat plate 14 is completed (timing T3), the control circuit 2 causes the image pickup device unit 5 to pick up an image. At the start (timing T4), the strobe 8 is caused to emit light via the strobe light emitting circuit 7. The image sensor unit 5 receives only a color component (one of magenta, green, cyan, and yellow) selected by the light receiving pixel with respect to the light beam that has reached the surface of the light receiving pixel,
By converting the image into pixels, one image is generated. The image (image data) generated in this way is transferred to the memory 6 (process P3).

When the first imaging is completed (at timing T
5), the control circuit 2 cuts off the current supply to the first electromagnetic coils 25 to 28 and gives a positive drive current to the first electromagnetic coil 26;
A negative drive current is applied to the first electromagnetic coil 28. Then, this time, the first electromagnetic coil 26 moves to the photographed image side along the optical axis 43 due to the mutual magnetic force between the first electromagnetic coil 26 and the magnet unit 31, and conversely, the first electromagnetic coil 28 and the magnet unit 33
And the first electromagnetic coil 28 is moved by the optical axis 4
It moves to the image sensor unit 5 side along 3. As a result, the movable plate 13 is tilted in a different direction from the previous time, and accordingly, the parallel flat plate 14 is also tilted with respect to the optical axis 43 in a different direction from the previous time.

At this time, the edge of the inclined movable plate 13 is formed such that its surface is closer to the captured image of the stoppers 38 and 39 (FIG. 6).
The upper surface of (b) is in contact with the contact surface, and the back surfaces are in contact with the contact surfaces of the stopper portions 40 and 41 on the image sensor unit 5 side (lower side in the figure). Thereby, the inclination of the movable plate 13 is regulated, and the inclination of the parallel plane plate 14 is regulated to a fixed angle (process P4). However, during this time, strobe 8
Does not emit light.

At this time, the incident light on the plane parallel plate 14 is
As shown in FIG. 9, the outgoing light 4 refracted by the parallel plane plate 14 and having the optical path moved to the side of the electromagnetic coil 26 almost in parallel.
6 and then reach the image sensor unit 5 after passing through the crystal filter 21. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in (2), when the light incident on the parallel plane plate 14 reaches the image sensor unit 5, it reaches a position shifted to the lower right by one light receiving pixel from the position reached when the incident light is not refracted. .

Subsequently, when the optical system control mechanism 3 outputs a notice to the effect that the operation of tilting the parallel flat plate 14 has been completed to the control circuit 2, the control circuit 2 causes the image pickup element unit 5 to start image pickup and strobe light. The flash 8 emits light via the light emitting circuit 7. The imaging element unit 5 generates one image by receiving only the color component selected by the light receiving pixel from the light beam that has reached the surface of the light receiving pixel and converting the color component into a pixel. The generated image (image data) is transferred to the memory 6.

When the second imaging is completed, the control circuit 2
In the same manner, the drive current is sequentially applied to the first electromagnetic coils 25 to 28 to tilt the parallel plane plate 14 further in two directions, thereby refracting the light incident on the parallel plane plate 14 to the lower left and upper left. By doing so, the optical paths for the third and fourth imaging are set, the strobe 8 is caused to emit light for the fourth and fifth times, and the imaging device unit 5 is caused to perform imaging.

When the light emission of five times and the imaging of four times are completed, and the incident light refracted in four ways is sequentially imaged by the imaging element unit 5, as a result, FIGS.
2. Four images as shown in FIG.

The control circuit 2 reads out the four images (image data) stored in the memory 6 and simply superimposes them.
Then, one full-color image composed of a set of pixels as shown in FIG. 14 is synthesized. This is stored in the memory 6 and displayed on the display circuit 9 and printed in accordance with the instruction of the operator.

In such an optical system control mechanism, the operation of inclining the plane-parallel plate 14 is performed at a high speed, so that the imaging speed can be increased, and high-speed image switching such as moving image shooting is required. Although suitable for application, if the image pickup using the strobe is performed in the image pickup apparatus of the present invention having such an optical system control mechanism, the difference in luminance between a plurality of images to be picked up is reduced, and the images are finally synthesized. Since the image quality of the plurality of images can be made higher than that of a conventional image in which the luminances of the plurality of images are greatly different, it is particularly effective when a high-quality moving image or the like is desired to be obtained.

The direction in which the plane parallel plate 13 is inclined is not limited to four directions, but may be inclined in two directions, three directions, or even more than five directions.

The color components received by the light receiving pixels of the image sensor unit 5 are not limited to the four colors of magenta, green, cyan, and yellow, and any color component that receives any four colors may be used. May be separately and appropriately filtered. The types of colors used are not limited to four, but may be two, three, or five or more.

The arrangement of the magnet section, the first electromagnetic coil and the second electromagnetic coil is not limited to the above-mentioned arrangement. For example, the first electromagnetic coil is provided on the base plate and
A second electromagnetic coil may be provided on the electromagnetic coil, and a magnet unit may be provided on the movable plate.

The method of restricting the inclination of the parallel flat plate is not limited to the method of using an angle restricting member having a stopper, but may use an angle sensor and a first electromagnetic coil based on a detection signal from the angle sensor. Alternatively, a method of performing feedback control on the second electromagnetic coil may be used.

[0067]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an imaging system for synthesizing a plurality of photographed images, the difference in luminance between the photographed images is reduced, and the obtained synthesized image is of high quality. In addition, it is possible to prevent the red-eye phenomenon at the time of photographing a person or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of an imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the number of times of flash emission and the amount of emitted light.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the imaging device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view showing an imaging apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of an optical system control mechanism according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

6A is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 5, and FIG. 6B is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

7A is a top view illustrating an arrangement of light receiving pixels of the image sensor unit 5, FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating coordinates of the plane parallel plate 14, and FIG. 7C is a view illustrating coordinates of the image sensor unit 5 and the plane parallel plate 14. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an optical positional relationship of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an optical path of light incident on the plane-parallel plate 14;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an optical path of light incident on the plane-parallel plate 14;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a result of imaging when the parallel plane plate refracts incident light to the upper right.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a result of imaging when the parallel plane plate refracts incident light to the lower right.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a result of imaging when the parallel plane plate refracts incident light to the lower left.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a result of imaging when the parallel plane plate refracts incident light to the upper left.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an image obtained as a result of the superposition.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... shutter button, 2 ... control circuit, 3 ...
-Optical system control mechanism, 4-Optical system, 5-Image sensor unit, 6-Memory, 7-Strobe light-emitting circuit, 8-Strobe, 9-Display circuit, 10-・ ・
Exposure meter, 11: mode setting unit, 12: base plate, 13: movable plate, 14: parallel plane plate, 15 to 15
18 ... electromagnetic drive unit, 20 ... angle regulating member, 21 ... crystal filter, 22 ... magnet support,
23 ... Coil support part, 25-28 ... First electromagnetic coil, 30-33 ... Magnet part, 34-37 ... Second
Electromagnetic coil, 38 to 41 ... stopper part, 42 ...
Cushion material, 43: optical axis, 44: incident light, 4
5 and 46: transmitted light

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup method for picking up a plurality of images with an image pickup device and synthesizing the picked-up images, wherein a plurality of times of strobe light emission for exposing the image pickup device are used when picking up an image using a strobe. A flash light emission without at least one exposure of the image sensor before the image capturing. 2. An image pickup method for picking up a plurality of images with an image pickup device and synthesizing the picked-up images, wherein at the time of picking up an image using a strobe, at least an image picked up using the strobe is used. An image capturing method, wherein an image obtained by one image capturing is not used for the synthesis. 3. When the strobe emits light continuously,
The imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the imaging method has a characteristic in which a light emission amount decreases and converges to a constant light amount for each light emission. 4. An image pickup means for picking up an image, a strobe for emitting light toward a subject, a control means for causing the strobe to emit light and causing the image pickup means to pick up an image by reflected light of light from the strobe, Wherein the control unit causes the strobe to emit light a plurality of times and causes the strobe to emit light at least once before the first image capturing when a plurality of images are captured by the imaging unit using the light emission. An imaging device comprising: means. 5. The imaging device according to claim 4, further comprising a combining unit that combines a plurality of images acquired by the imaging device. 6. The control means includes means for causing the strobe to emit light continuously, and for taking a plurality of images by the image pickup means using the light emission, at least one image before the first image pickup.
The imaging device according to claim 4, wherein the strobe light is controlled to emit light. 7. An image pickup means for picking up an image, a strobe for emitting light toward a subject, a control means for causing the strobe to emit light, and for causing the image pickup means to pick up an image by reflected light of the light from the strobe; A synthesizing unit for synthesizing a plurality of images acquired by the imaging unit, wherein the synthesizing unit causes the strobe to emit light a plurality of times and uses the light emission to capture a plurality of images by the imaging unit. In this case, the imaging apparatus further comprises means for controlling not to use at least one image obtained by at least one first imaging for the synthesis. 8. When the strobe emits light continuously,
The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the imaging apparatus has a characteristic of converging to a constant light amount while a light emission amount changes. 9. The amount of change in the amount of emitted light is such that the difference between any two of the amounts of light emitted during the predetermined number of emissions from the first emission is equal to any two of the amounts of light other than the predetermined number of times. The imaging device according to any one of claims 4 to 8, wherein the amount of change is larger than a change amount between two light emissions. 10. The imaging apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said imaging means is constituted by a solid-state imaging device or a photosensitive film. 11. The image pickup apparatus further comprises: an optical path unit for guiding light from an object to be imaged to the image pickup unit; and an optical path control unit for controlling the optical path unit. The imaging apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 10, further comprising: means for emitting the strobe light at least once during the control of the optical path.