A method of autofocusing a camera during a zooming operation is disclosed, comprising zooming the lens to a first zoom position, measuring a first object distance from the camera to an object on which to focus, determining a first focus start position using the first object distance, performing a first autofocusing operation using the first focus start position as a starting point, thereby determining a first determined focus position. A first lookup object distance is determined based on the first determined focus position. A first correction factor is calculated as a ratio between the first lookup object distance and the first object distance. The lens is zoomed to a second zoom position, and a second focus position is determined using a second object distance calculated as a product of the first object distance and a second correction factor based on a ratio of depths of field at the second and first zoom positions.

A control apparatus includes a focus detector configured to perform focus detection based on an image signal obtained via a first optical system, the first optical system having a shallowest depth of field in a plurality of optical systems having focal lengths different from each other, and a controller configured to perform focus control of the plurality of optical systems based on an output signal from the focus detector.

An imaging device comprises an image sensor on which phase difference detection pixels are formed, a rapid shooting controller that carries out rapid shooting of still pictures by causing operation of the image sensor, and generates and stores image data based on image signals output by the image sensor, and a controller for focusing control that carries out the rapid shooting and causes operation of the image sensor between one exposure of the rapid shooting and the next to carry out first focus detection based on focus detection signals generated by the phase difference detection pixels, carries out second focus detection based on focus detection signals generated by the phase difference detection pixels as a result of the rapid shooting, and carries out focus adjustment based on results of the first focus detection and results of the second focus detection.

A focus detection apparatus includes a first setting unit configured to set a first focus detection area and a second focus detection area, a first focus detection unit configured to perform focus detection of a phase difference detection method on each of the first and second focus detection areas by using the pair of parallax image signals, a reliability acquisition unit configured to obtain reliability of the focus detection of the first and second focus detection areas by the first focus detection unit, a second setting unit configured to determine a third focus detection area by using the reliability of the focus detection of the first and second focus detection areas, obtained by the reliability acquisition unit, and a second focus detection unit configured to perform focus detection by using the third focus detection area.

An image pickup apparatus on which a lens unit is to be removably mounted includes an image pickup element, a first focus detection unit which performs a focus detection by a contrast detection method based on a signal output from the image pickup element, a second focus detection unit which performs a focus detection by a phase difference detection method based on a pair of image signals output from the image pickup element, and a control unit which performs a focus control based on an in-focus position detected by the first or second focus detection unit, and the control unit receives, from the mounted lens unit, first information related to a displacement of the in-focus position by the phase difference detection method and determines whether to use the second focus detection unit for the focus control according to the first information.

A method, a device and a computer readable for automatically identifying a Christmas tree scene and setting a camera's focus and/or exposure parameters in a way that yields images with high image quality. The Christmas tree scene identification can be performed by segmenting the image into bright and dark regions, identifying the light objects, collecting the statistics of the light objects, and classifying the scene based on the statistics of the light objects, or by collecting the pixel value statistics for the image, and classifying the scene based on the statistics of the pixel values, or by collecting the pixel value statistics for the image, filtering the image, collecting the pixel value statistics for the filtered image, and classifying the scene by comparing the statistics of the pixel values before and after filtering. The focus and exposure settings can be adjusted based on the Christmas tree scene identification results. For Christmas tree scenes, the exposure can be set based on a value that is adjusted upwards from the mean luminance of the image, or on a value that is calculated from the top luminance value. The focus can be set by identifying the lights in the image, and minimizing the light size in the image.

A lens control device includes a processor that performs a control of generating image data for each of first wavelength range light and second wavelength range light by an image sensor, in which the processor estimates a first focus position of a focus lens for the first wavelength range light based on a first focus evaluation value determined in accordance with the image data of the first wavelength range light, estimates a second focus position of the focus lens for the first wavelength range light based on a second focus evaluation value determined in accordance with the image data of the second wavelength range light, and performs a control of moving the focus lens along an optical axis based on the first focus position in a case in which a comparison result obtained by comparing the first focus position with the second focus position satisfies a predetermined condition.

A depth sensing multiple camera system is described that uses depth sensing cameras. In one example, the camera system includes a primary auto-focus camera to capture an image of a scene at a first focus distance, the primary camera having a fixed field of view through different focus distances, a secondary auto-focus camera to capture an image of the same scene at a second focus distance, the secondary camera having a fixed field of view through different focus distances, and a processor having a port coupled to the primary camera to receive images from the primary camera and also coupled to the secondary camera to receive images from the secondary camera and to determine a depth map for the captured primary camera image using the captured secondary camera image.

A lens module for autofocus of a camera in passive mode includes a lens barrel containing a first lens, a second lens, a pressure sensor, an image sensor, and a processor. In the passive autofocus mode, the first lens is located at a first end of the lens barrel and moves within the lens barrel when a distance to a target object changes. The pressure sensor between the first and the second lenses senses both pulling and pushing pressures which the first lens applies. The image sensor is adjacent to an end of the lens barrel and is behind the first and second lenses. The processor can apply formulas to calculate a distance between the target object and the lens module.

Certain aspects relate to systems and techniques for using imaging pixels (that is, non-phase detection pixels) in addition to phase detection pixels for calculating autofocus information. Imaging pixel values can be used to interpolate a value at a phase detection pixel location. The interpolated value and a value received from the phase difference detection pixel can be used to obtain a virtual phase detection pixel value. The interpolated value, value received from the phase difference detection pixel, and the virtual phase detection pixel value can be used to obtain a phase difference detection signal indicating a shift direction (defocus direction) and a shift amount (defocus amount) of image focus.