Photographing apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9743011-B2
Application number	US-201514840615-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2015
Priority date	Sep 25, 2014
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

There are provided a photographing apparatus and a photographing method capable of generating an added image by adding up images, the apparatus and the method achieving image quality of the added image. A photographing apparatus includes: a photographing section that photographs a subject a plurality of times sequentially; an image processing section that adds up images so as to generate an added image; and an exposure condition calculation section that calculates the minimum number of shots of the photography, which is for calculating a plurality of predetermined exposure time periods, and unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography performed the minimum number of times, on the basis of set and input exposure conditions. The image processing section generates an added image of the plurality of exposure time periods by adding up images which are captured through the shots of the photography for the unit exposure time periods.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A photographing apparatus comprising:
a photographing section that photographs a subject a plurality of times sequentially;
an image processing section that adds up images sequentially captured through shots of the photography so as to generate an added image; and
an exposure condition calculation section that calculates the minimum number of shots of the photography, which calculates a plurality of mutually different predetermined exposure time periods, and at least two kinds of unit exposure time periods used for the respective shots of the photography performed the minimum number of times, on the basis of set and input exposure conditions,
wherein the photographing section takes each shot of the photography that is performed with the minimum number of times, using the at least two kinds of unit exposure time periods, and
wherein the image processing section generates a plurality of the added images which have the plurality of mutually different exposure time periods by adding up images without weighting which are captured through the shots of the photography using the at least two kinds of unit exposure time periods in different combinations so that the exposure time period of the added image is longer than the unit exposure times of the images that are added for the added image.

2. The photographing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the exposure conditions are conditions of a shortest exposure time period of the shots of the photography and a total exposure time period in which all the exposure time periods of the shots of the photography are added up.

3. The photographing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising an exposure time period receiving section that receives a setting and an input of the shortest exposure time period and the total exposure time period, as the exposure conditions.

4. The photographing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the exposure condition calculation section calculates the unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography, in which a value obtained by adding up the unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography is equal to or less than the total exposure time period, and the minimum number of shots of the photography.

5. The photographing apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein assuming that the shortest exposure time period is t and the total exposure time period is T, the exposure condition calculation section calculates a maximum of n satisfying 2 n+1 t≦T,
wherein assuming that m is an integer of 0 to n, 2 m t and T−(2 n+1 −1)t are calculated with respect to all values of m as the plurality of unit exposure time periods, and n+2 are calculated as the minimum number of shots of the photography, and
wherein assuming that k is an integer of 1 to (T/t), the image processing section calculates added images of an exposure time period of kt with respect to all the plurality of mutually different predetermined exposure time periods.

6. The photographing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the exposure condition calculation section calculates the unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography, in which a value obtained by adding up the unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography is equal to or less than the total exposure time period, and the minimum number of shots of the photography.

7. The photographing apparatus according to claim 6 ,
wherein assuming that the shortest exposure time period is t and the total exposure time period is T, the exposure condition calculation section calculates a maximum of n satisfying 2 n+1 t≦T,
wherein assuming that m is an integer of 0 to n, 2 m t and T−(2 n+1 −1)t are calculated with respect to all values of m as the plurality of unit exposure time periods, and n+2 are calculated as the minimum number of shots of the photography, and
wherein assuming that k is an integer of 1 to (T/t), the image processing section calculates added images of an exposure time period of kt with respect to all the plurality of mutually different predetermined exposure time periods.

8. The photographing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising an exposure time period receiving section that receives a setting and an input of the shortest exposure time period and a ratio of the total exposure time period to the shortest exposure time period, as the exposure conditions.

9. The photographing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the exposure condition calculation section calculates the unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography, in which a value obtained by adding up the unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography is equal to or less than the total exposure time period, and the minimum number of shots of the photography.

10. The photographing apparatus according to claim 9 ,
wherein assuming that the shortest exposure time period is t and the total exposure time period is T, the exposure condition calculation section calculates a maximum of n satisfying 2 n+1 t≦T,
wherein assuming that m is an integer of 0 to n, 2 m t and T−(2 n+1 −1)t are calculated with respect to all values of m as the plurality of unit exposure time periods, and n+2 are calculated as the minimum number of shots of the photography, and
wherein assuming that k is an integer of 1 to (T/t), the image processing section calculates added images of an exposure time period of kt with respect to all the plurality of mutually different predetermined exposure time periods.

11. The photographing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a signal amount receiving section that receives settings and inputs of a minimum signal amount, which is acquired by the photography, and a total signal amount, which is obtained by adding up signal amounts acquired by all the shots of the photography, as the exposure conditions,
wherein the exposure condition calculation section calculates the shortest exposure time period on the basis of the minimum signal amount, and calculates the total exposure time period on the basis of the total signal amount.

12. The photographing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the exposure condition calculation section calculates the unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography, in which a value obtained by adding up the unit exposure time periods of the shots of the photography is equal to or less than the total exposure time period, and the minimum number of shots of the photography.

13. The photographing apparatus according to claim 12 ,
wherein assuming that the shortest exposure time period is t and the total exposure time period is T, the exposure condition calculation section calculates a maximum of n satisfying 2 n+1 t≦T,
wherein assuming that m is an integer of 0 to n, 2 m t and T−(2 n+1 −1)t are calculated with respect to all values of m as the plurality of unit exposure time periods, and n+2 are calculated as the minimum number of shots of the photography, and
wherein assuming that k is an integer of 1 to (T/t), the image processing section calculates added images of an exposure time period of kt with respect to all the plurality of mutually different predetermined exposure time periods.

14. The photographing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a signal amount receiving section that receives settings and inputs of a minimum signal amount, which is acquired by the photography, and a ratio of a total signal amount, which is obtained by adding up signal amounts acquired by all the shots of the photography, to the minimum signal amount, as the exposure conditions,
wherein the exposure condition calculation section calcul

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Tanaka Yasutake
• Ohta Yasunori

Classifications

• H04N23/71

  Circuitry for evaluating the brightness variation · CPC title

• H04N23/81

  for suppressing or minimising disturbance in the image signal generation · CPC title

• H04N23/76

  by influencing the image signals · CPC title

• H04N23/73

  by influencing the exposure time · CPC title

• H04N23/743 Primary

  Bracketing, i.e. taking a series of images with varying exposure conditions · CPC title