Image capturing device and image capturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9319659-B2
Application number	US-201414563543-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2014
Priority date	Jun 30, 2010
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

The quality of a planar image is improved while maintaining the parallax of a stereoscopic image. An image capturing device includes an imaging element that performs photoelectric conversion on respective light fluxes passing through different regions of a single pickup lens. The image capturing device includes a neutral density filter an AE control unit that acquires subject brightness, and a diaphragm control unit that, in a case of the stereoscopic pickup, controls whether or not to reduce the amount of light which reaches the imaging element using the neutral density filter based on the subject brightness, and that, in a case of the plane pickup, causes a diaphragm value of the diaphragm to be greater than a diaphragm value in the case of the stereoscopic pickup while setting the light extinction filter to a non-insertion state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image capturing device which includes a single optical pickup system and an imaging element that has a first pixel group and a second pixel group respectively performing photoelectric conversion on light fluxes passing through different regions of the single optical pickup system, and which performs stereoscopic pickup used to generate a stereoscopic image composed of a first image and a second image from the first pixel group and the second pixel group, and plane pickup used to generate a third planar image as a planar image from the first pixel group and the second pixel group, the image capturing device comprising:
light extinction unit reduces an amount of light which is incident to the imaging element from the optical pickup system;
a diaphragm that is arranged in a light path which the light fluxes irradiated to the image sensor passes through;
subject brightness acquisition unit that acquires subject brightness; and
control unit that, in a case of the stereoscopic pickup, controls whether or not to reduce the amount of light which reaches the imaging element using the light extinction unit based on the subject brightness acquired using the subject brightness acquisition unit, and that, in a case of the plane pickup, causes a diaphragm value of the diaphragm to be greater than a diaphragm value in the case of the stereoscopic pickup.

2. The image capturing device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first pixel group and the second pixel group include light reception elements which are 2-dimensionally arranged, and
wherein, in the imaging element, each pixel of the first pixel group and each pixel of the second pixel group are arranged to be adjacent to each other.

3. The image capturing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an optical member that performs division on the light fluxes passing through the optical pickup system,
wherein the imaging element includes a first imaging element having the first pixel group and a second imaging element having the second pixel group, the first imaging element and the second imaging element respectively receiving the light fluxes obtained through pupil division performed using the optical member.

4. The image capturing device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control unit sets the diaphragm to an open state in the case of the stereoscopic pickup, and squeezes the diaphragm compared to the open state in the case of the plane pickup.

5. The image capturing device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light extinction unit is a neutral density filter which is capable to be inserted in the light path through which the light fluxes incident to the imaging element pass, and
wherein the control unit, in the case of the stereoscopic pickup, controls whether or not to set the neutral density filter to an insertion state in which the neutral density filter is inserted in the light path based on the subject brightness acquired using the subject brightness acquisition unit.

6. The image capturing device according to claim 5 ,
wherein the control unit, in the case of the stereoscopic pickup, sets the neutral density filter to the insertion state when the subject brightness is higher than a threshold, and sets the neutral density filter to a non-insertion state when the subject brightness is equal to or lower than the threshold.

7. The image capturing device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the light extinction unit is a light blocking unit which shields a part of an opening of the diaphragm in order to equally divide the opening of the diaphragm viewed in an optical axis direction into at least one side of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction of the imaging element, and
wherein the control unit controls the light blocking unit, and sets a light blocking state in which at least a part of the opening of the diaphragm is shielded using the light blocking unit in the case of the stereoscopic pickup, and sets a non-light blocking state in which the opening of the diaphragm is not shielded using the light blocking unit in the case of the plane pickup.

8. The image capturing device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the control unit, in the case of the stereoscopic pickup, changes a size of the light blocking region of the opening of the diaphragm which is shielded using the light blocking unit based on the subject brightness acquired using the subject brightness acquisition unit.

9. The image capturing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
subject distance acquisition unit that acquires a subject distance,
wherein the control unit, in the case of the plane pickup, controls whether or not to set the diaphragm to the open state based on the subject distance acquired using the subject distance acquisition unit.

10. The image capturing device according to claim 9 ,
wherein the control unit, in the case of the plane pickup, sets the diaphragm to the open state when the subject distance is greater than a threshold.

11. The image capturing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
focal distance acquisition unit that acquires a focal distance of the optical pickup system,
wherein the control unit, in the case of the plane pickup, controls whether or not to set the diaphragm to the open state based on the focal distance acquired using the focal distance acquisition unit.

12. The image capturing device according to claim 11 ,
wherein the control unit, in the case of the plane pickup, sets the diaphragm to the open state when the focal distance is greater than a threshold.

13. The image capturing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
parallax information acquisition unit that calculates an amount of parallax between the first planar image and the second planar image which are included in the stereoscopic image acquired using the imaging element, and acquires a parallax range which indicates a difference between an amount of maximum parallax of a near side and an amount of maximum parallax of a far side of the stereoscopic image,
wherein the control unit, in the case of the plane pickup, controls whether or not to set the diaphragm to the open state based on the parallax range acquired using the parallax information acquisition unit.

14. The image capturing device according to claim 13 ,
wherein, in the case of the plane pickup, the diaphragm is set to the open state when the acquired parallax range is smaller than a threshold, and sets the diaphragm value of the diaphragm to a value, which is greater than the diaphragm value in the case of the stereoscopic pickup, when the acquired parallax range is equal to or greater than the threshold.

15. The image capturing device according to claim 13 , further comprising:
instruction input unit that receives an input of a pickup instruction,
wherein the parallax information acquisition unit calculates the parallax range from the stereoscopic image imaged using the imaging element before the pickup instruction is input to the instruction input unit.

16. The image capturing device according to claim 15 ,
wherein the control unit sets the diaphragm to the open state when imaging is performed before the pickup instruction is input.

17. The image capturing device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the control unit, in the case of the plane pickup, changes whether or not to perform light extinction using the light extinction unit when the diaphragm is set to the open state based on the subject brightness acquired using the subject brightness acquisition unit.

18. The image capturing device accordi

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Endo Hiroshi

Classifications

• G03B11/00

  Filters or other obturators specially adapted for photographic purposes · CPC title

• G03B7/08 Primary

  Control effected solely on the basis of the response, to the intensity of the light received by the camera, of a built-in light-sensitive device · CPC title

• H04N13/211 Primary

  using temporal multiplexing · CPC title

• G03B35/08

  by simultaneous recording · CPC title

• H04N13/218

  using spatial multiplexing · CPC title