A focus detection apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires, for each color, a correction value for correcting a pair of focus detection signals of respective colors acquired from a color image sensor based on color sensitivity information unique to the color image sensor which includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions for each of a plurality of microlenses, and performing photoelectric conversion on light entering via an imaging optical system to output an electric signal; a correction unit that corrects each focus detection signal by using the correction value; a generation unit that processes the pair of corrected focus detection signals of the respective colors, and generates a pair of focus detection signals; and a focus detection unit that detects an evaluation value based on the pair of focus detection signals.

An image pickup apparatus capable of generating a high-quality trail simulation image with little noise, without degrading usability. An image pickup unit shoots a first image, a black image, and a second image in this order. A noise reduction unit executes a process for reducing noise in at least one image of the first image and the second image using the black image. A trail generation unit generates a predicted trail of an object on the basis of a movement of the object between the first image and the second image. A synthesis unit synthesizes the first image or the second image in which the noise has been reduced and the generated trail and generates a trail simulation image of the object. A display unit displays the synthesized trail simulation image.

For image recording purposes, an object is illuminated at a plurality of illumination angles. A detector captures a plurality of images (41-43) of the object for the plurality of illumination angles. An electronic evaluating device applies an image correction to at least some of the plurality of images (41-43), said image correction comprising a displacement (T.sub.1, T.sub.2), wherein the displacement (T.sub.1, T.sub.2) depends on the illumination angle (4) used when recording the respective image (41-43). The corrected images (44-46) may be combined.

Violet light and green light are mixed and emitted at a first light amount ratio. A contrast difference value ΔC1 of first mixed color light emission between a blood vessel contrast of a blue image of first mixed color light emission and a blood vessel contrast of a green image of first mixed color light emission at a specific blood vessel depth satisfies a first condition, and a cross-point blood vessel depth VD1 of first mixed color light emission corresponding to a cross-point CP1 between the blood vessel contrast of the blue image of the first mixed color light emission and the blood vessel contrast of the green image of the first mixed color light emission satisfies a second condition.

A device including an array of pixels and a filter wheel may capture a plurality of images by exposing the array of pixels. The device may spin, while capturing the plurality of images, the filter wheel, and the filter wheel may include filter segments. In some implementations, a portion of the filter wheel in front of the array of pixels includes two or more filter segments.

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention implement optical systems incorporating lens elements formed separately and subsequently bonded to low coefficient of thermal expansion substrates. Optical systems in accordance with various embodiments of the invention can be utilized in single aperture cameras, and multiple-aperture array cameras. In one embodiment, a robust optical system includes at least one carrier characterized by a low coefficient of thermal expansion to which at least a primary lens element formed from precision molded glass is bonded.

The invention provides an autonomous vehicle with a video camera that merges images taken a different light levels by replacing saturated parts of an image with corresponding parts of a lower-light image to stream a video with a dynamic range that extends to include very low-light and very intensely lit parts of a scene. The high dynamic range (HDR) camera streams the HDR video to a HDR system in real time—as the vehicle operates. As pixel values are provided by the camera's image sensors, those values are streamed directly through a pipeline processing operation and on to the HDR system without any requirement to wait and collect entire images, or frames, before using the video information.

A polarization and color sensitive pixel device and a focal plane array made therefrom. Each incorporates a thick color/polarization filter stack and microlens array for visible (0.4-0.75 micron), near infrared (0.75-3 micron), mid infrared (3-8 micron) and long wave infrared (8-15 micron) imaging. A thick pixel filter has a thickness of between about one to 10× the operational wavelength, while a thick focal plane array filter is on the order of or larger than the size or up to 10× the pitch of the pixels in the focal plane array. The optical filters can be precisely fabricated on a wafer. A filter array can be mounted directly on top of an image sensor to create a polarization camera. Alternatively, the optical filters can be fabricated directly on the image sensor.

An image processor includes a first correction section that calculates a luminance average value of an image and corrects a luminance of the image on a basis of a periodic change in the luminance average value, and a second correction section that acquires color information on the image and corrects the color information on a basis of a periodic change in the color information. This configuration suppresses a flicker in imaging at a high-speed frame rate.

A linear matrix circuit generates a second R signal, a second G signal, and a second B signal by performing a matrix operation of a correction coefficient of 3 rows×3 columns including first to third correction coefficients, fourth to sixth correction coefficients, and seventh to ninth correction coefficients on a first R signal, a first G signal, and a first B signal. An R coefficient corrector performs correction so that the first correction coefficient to be multiplied by the first R signal is caused to be close to 1 and the second and third correction coefficients to be respectively multiplied by the first G signal and the first B signal are caused to be close to 0, as a first difference value obtained by subtracting the first G signal from the first B signal increases when the first difference value exceeds a first threshold.