IMAGE CAPTURE APPARATUS

Abstract

An image capture apparatus is disclosed that includes an aperture having an adjustable aperture value, an image capturing element, and a drive unit that drives the image capturing element to operate in video image capturing mode and still image capturing mode. The aperture has at least a dedicated aperture value for the still image capturing mode or a dedicated aperture value for the video image capturing mode.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image capturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an EV line graph illustrating still image mode operations of a multi-step aperture image capture apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an EV line graph illustrating monitoring mode operations of the multi-step aperture image capture apparatus;

FIG. 4 is an EV line graph illustrating video mode operations of the multi-step aperture image capture apparatus;

FIG. 5 is an EV line graph illustrating still image mode operations of a linear aperture image capture apparatus;

FIG. 6 is an EV line graph illustrating monitoring mode operations of the linear aperture image capture apparatus;

FIG. 7 is an EV line graph illustrating video mode operations of the linear aperture image capture apparatus; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating process steps of operations of the multi-step aperture image capture apparatus.

Claims

1. An image capture apparatus, comprising: an aperture having an adjustable aperture value;an image capturing element; anda drive unit that drives the image capturing element to operate in video image capturing mode and still image capturing mode; whereinthe aperture has at least one of a dedicated aperture value for the still image capturing mode and a dedicated aperture value for the video image capturing mode.

2. The image capture apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dedicated aperture value for the video image capturing mode is greater than an aperture value used in the still image capturing mode.

3. The image capture apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein a video mode aperture value range that includes the dedicated aperture value for the video image capturing mode is used when capturing a video image with a pixel size greater than or equal to a predetermine pixel size at a frame rate greater than or equal to a predetermined frame rate, the video mode aperture value range being greater than a still image mode aperture value range used in the still image capturing mode.

4. The image capture apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a determination unit that determines a drive mode; whereinan aperture value range to be used is changed according to the determined drive mode.

5. An image capture apparatus, comprising: an aperture having an adjustable aperture value;an image capturing element; anda drive unit that drives the image capturing element to operate in pixel mixing mode and non pixel mixing mode; whereinthe aperture has at least one of a dedicated aperture value for the pixel mixing mode and a dedicated aperture value for the non pixel mixing mode.

6. The image capture apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the dedicated aperture value for the pixel mixing mode is greater than an aperture value used in the non pixel mixing mode.

7. The image capture apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein a pixel mixing mode aperture value range that includes the dedicated aperture value for the pixel mixing mode is used when pixel mixing at a pixel number greater than or equal to a predetermined pixel number is performed, the pixel mixing mode aperture value range being greater than a non pixel mixing mode aperture value range used in the non pixel mixing mode.

8. The image capture apparatus as claimed in claim 5, further comprising: a determination unit that determines a drive mode, wherein an aperture value range to be used is changed according to the determined drive mode.