An imaging apparatus of the present disclosure includes a body, an imaging unit provided in the body, the imaging unit for capturing an image of an object and generating an image, a focus lens movable in an optical axis direction, the focus lens for adjusting a focus state of the image, an evaluation value detector for detecting a focus evaluation value of the image, a movement detector for detecting a moving direction and an amount of movement of the body in the optical axis direction, and a controller for controlling movement of the focus lens. The controller determines a direction to which the focus lens is to be moved, based on the moving direction of the body in the optical axis direction detected by the movement detector and the focus evaluation value detected by the evaluation value detector.

A method includes in response to receiving an instruction for starting a panoramic mode, controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to hover at or near a predetermined location; while the UAV is hovering at or near the predetermined location, causing an image capturing device to capture a plurality of images by controlling a carrier that couples the image capturing device to the UAV to rotate the image capturing device about a first axis of the carrier; and stabilizing the image capturing device against motions with respect to a second axis or a third axis of the carrier while the image capturing device is rotating about the first axis of the carrier.

Image capture can be improved by capturing a sequence of images and analyzing the images to select the image with the least blur and/or an acceptable amount of blur. Gradients can be calculated for at least a portion of the images, and gradient histograms generated. Two or more component curves can be fit to each histogram, such as by using a Gaussian mixture model, and the curves can be compared to determine an amount of variation between the curves. The image with the smallest differences between component curves, or with differences less than a specified blur threshold, can be selected as a sufficiently sharp image and provided for viewing, processing, or another intended purpose of the image to be captured.

An image-capturing apparatus includes the following. An image-capturing unit performs exposure of each frame to generate a captured image of a subject. A changing unit changes an image-capturing direction of the image-capturing unit. A control unit controls the changing unit to change the image-capturing direction of the image-capturing unit. The control unit determines a valid term in which the image-capturing direction is changed according to an exposure term of the image-capturing unit. The control unit controls the changing unit to change the image-capturing direction during the determined valid term.

There is provided a focal point adjustment device, comprising: a first memory to store information on an emission angular range of a light flux emitted toward an image sensor; a second memory to store the information on characteristics of the image sensor; a camera-shake preventing mechanism to correct camera shake by moving the image sensor, and to correct camera shake by rotating the image sensor in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the photographic lens and also output information on the movement and information on the rotation; and a calculation circuit to correct image height information at a range-finding position where the output of the focal point detection pixel is used, based on the information on the movement and the information on the rotation output by the camera-shake preventing mechanism, and calculate information for the focal point adjustment, based on the corrected image height information.

The present disclosure relates to a camera module including a fixture; a moving part centrally coupled with a lens and arranged to move relative to the fixture; three or more magnets arranged at a periphery of the moving part; and three or more coils arranged from an inner surface of the fixture to areas opposite to the three or more magnets, where each of the coils independently receives a control signal so that the moving part moves to a height direction and tilted relative to a central axis of the moving part, whereby a lens can be axially moved and tilted at the same time using arrangement of a single set of coils and magnets.

An image sensing assembly includes an enclosure that defines a first viewport aperture in a front wall of the enclosure. The image sensing assembly includes a first image sensor attached within the enclosure, the first image sensor aligned with the first viewport aperture in the front wall of the enclosure to capture image data representative of a scene viewed through the first viewport aperture. The image sensing assembly includes a bracket attached to the enclosure at a first portion of the bracket and attached to a first mounting plate at a second portion of the bracket. The image sensing assembly includes a vibration dampening mount located between the bracket and the first mounting plate to at least partially isolate the enclosure from vibration of the first mounting plate.

A shake correction apparatus includes: a stationary portion (21) having coils (22S, 22L, 23S, 23L, 24S, 24L) arranged; a movable portion including magnets (52a, 52b, 52c, 52d, 53a, 53b, 53c, 53d, 54a, 54b, 54c, 54d) opposed to the coils and an imaging element; a supporting member for movably supporting the movable portion to the stationary portion along a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of light entering into the imaging element; means for detecting a position of the movable portion; and means for controlling current flowed into the coils based on output of the detection means, the coils including at least three coil pairs when two coils opposed to each other along the plane orthogonal to the optical axis are paired, driving forces of two coils forming each coil pair being different.

A multi-aperture imaging device includes an image sensor and an array of optical channels, each optical channel including optics for projecting a partial field of view of a total field of view on an image sensor area of the image sensor. The multi-aperture imaging device includes a beam deflector for deflecting an optical path of the optical channels and an optical image stabilizer for an image stabilization along a first image axis by generating a translatory relative movement between the image sensor and the array and for an image stabilization along a second image axis by generating a rotational movement of the beam deflector.

A portable electronic device with image capturing capabilities automatically or semi-automatically adjusts one or more image capturing parameters based on an input attribute of user engagement with a single-action haptic input mechanism. For example, the duration for which a single-action control button carried on a frame of the device is pressed automatically determines an image stabilization mode for on-board processing of captured image data. In one example, an above-threshold press duration automatically activates a less rigorous image stabilization mode, while button release before expiry of the threshold automatically activates a more rigorous photo stabilization mode.