JP2014075721A - Exposure control device and optical instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

An exposure control device and an optical apparatus capable of obtaining a preferable exposure correction result are provided.
An exposure control apparatus according to the present invention includes a calculation unit 52 that calculates an exposure value of a photographic image based on input luminance data and exposure value correction information of the photographic image, and an exposure calculated by the calculation unit 52. In the exposure control device 5, which includes a shooting condition determination unit 53 that obtains a shooting condition from values and a correction information input unit 54 that inputs underexposure correction information related to an exposure value to the calculation unit 52, the calculation unit 52 inputs correction information. The exposure control device 5 is characterized in that when underexposure correction information is input from the unit 54, an exposure calculation is performed based on luminance data that is restricted as compared with a case where no underexposure correction information is input.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to an exposure control device and an optical apparatus.

In an imaging measure having a video monitor function, the acquired image data is displayed on the display unit as a through image, and based on the acquired image data, the exposure value of the image sensor is set so that the exposure of the next image data is optimized. Repeat the calculation.
Here, when exposure correction is set by the photographer, when the exposure value calculated from the through image before exposure correction is EVa and the set exposure correction amount is Ho, the exposure value calculated from the through image after exposure correction is set. EVa + Ho is desirable.
However, since the degree of overflow of the image data changes due to exposure correction, the exposure value calculated from the through image after exposure correction is EVb + Ho (EVb ≠ EVa). That is, the exposure value fluctuates.
Therefore, for example, there is a conventional technique in which imaging data is read out separately for exposure calculation and display at a certain period for each column or row, and a different gain is applied to each (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-44231 A

  However, according to the above prior art, the data processing load becomes heavy unless data is thinned out in the operation during live view. If the data after thinning out in consideration of the load is divided into two, the amount of data decreases, and the accuracy of the exposure calculation and the image quality of the display image deteriorate.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an exposure control apparatus and an optical apparatus that can obtain a preferable exposure correction result.

  The present invention solves the above problems by the following means. In addition, in order to make an understanding easy, although the code | symbol corresponding to embodiment of this invention is attached | subjected and demonstrated, it is not limited to this.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a calculation unit that calculates an exposure value of the captured image based on the input luminance data and correction information related to the exposure value, and a shooting condition from the exposure value calculated by the calculation unit. An exposure control apparatus comprising: an imaging condition determination unit to be obtained; and a correction information input unit that inputs underexposure correction information related to an exposure value to the calculation unit. The calculation unit receives the underexposure correction information from the correction information input unit. The exposure control device is characterized in that, when is input, exposure calculation is performed based on luminance data that is more limited than when the underexposure correction information is not input.
A second aspect of the present invention is the exposure control apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the calculation unit, when the underexposure correction information is input, calculates the overflow obtained using an overflow level of an imaging sensor. An exposure control device characterized in that an exposure calculation is performed based on brightness data limited within a range of a predetermined value smaller than a level.
Invention of Claim 3 is the exposure control apparatus of Claim 1 or 2, Comprising: The said calculating part performs the exposure calculation in the case of displaying the through image of the said picked-up image, Exposure characterized by the above-mentioned. It is a control device.
Invention of Claim 4 is the exposure control apparatus of Claim 3, Comprising: The said calculating part calculates the exposure value calculation which determines the said through image display of the said picked-up image, and the said photographing condition It is an exposure control device characterized in that it is used in common.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is the exposure control apparatus according to any one of the second to fourth aspects, wherein the difference between the predetermined value and the overflow level increases as the underexposure correction amount increases. This is an exposure control device characterized by that.
The invention according to claim 6 is the exposure control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the underexposure correction amount is Ho (negative value) and the overflow level is OvfLvl. The predetermined value is
PsdOvfLvl = OvfLvl × 2 ^ (Ho)
Formula (1)
It is an exposure control device characterized by being.
The invention according to claim 7 is a calculation unit that calculates an exposure value of the photographed image based on the input luminance data and correction information related to the exposure value, and a photographing condition based on the exposure value calculated by the calculation unit. In an exposure control apparatus comprising: a photographing condition determination unit to be obtained; and a correction information input unit that inputs overcorrection information relating to an exposure value to the calculation unit, the calculation unit inputs the overcorrection information from the correction information input unit In the exposure control apparatus, the exposure calculation is performed based on luminance data limited as compared to the case where the overexposure correction information is not input.
The invention according to claim 8 is the exposure control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the calculation unit is greater than or equal to a predetermined value greater than an underflow level of the image sensor when the overexposure correction information is input. The exposure control device is characterized in that an exposure calculation is performed based on luminance data limited in the range.
The invention according to claim 9 is an optical apparatus including the exposure control device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
Note that the configuration described with reference numerals may be modified as appropriate, and at least a part of the configuration may be replaced with another component.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the exposure control apparatus and optical instrument which can obtain a suitable exposure correction result can be provided.

1 shows a configuration of a camera according to a first embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the control part of a camera. It is a figure explaining the pixel of an image sensor, (a) is an output example of an image sensor in which a plurality of RGB pixels are arranged in a Bayer array, and (b) is a block diagram of the output example. The horizontal axis represents the imaging data with the pixel position and the vertical axis represents the output, (a) is the imaging data before exposure correction, and (b) shows the area used for the calculation in the comparative form after exposure correction. FIG. 8C is a diagram showing a region used for calculation in the present embodiment after exposure correction.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the camera 100 of the first embodiment. The camera 100 is capable of live view, and includes a photographing optical system 1, a diaphragm unit 1 a, and an image sensor 2. The imaging sensor 2 can select all pixel readout or row skipping readout.
The camera 100 also includes an A / D conversion unit 3 capable of adding a plurality of lines, a display unit 9, an external memory card 10 for recording image data, and an operation unit for a photographer to perform a release operation and an exposure correction operation. 11 etc.

The camera 100 further includes an exposure calculation device 5, a sensor control unit 6, an aperture control unit 7, and an image processing unit 8.
The exposure calculation device 5 processes the output of the A / D conversion unit 3 into exposure calculation data, and calculates an exposure value of the captured image based on the luminance data of the input captured image. A shooting condition determining unit 53 for obtaining shooting conditions such as an aperture value, sensitivity of the imaging sensor 2 and shutter speed from the exposure value calculated by the unit 52, and correction information regarding the exposure value input from the operation unit 11 are calculated. And a correction information input unit 54 for inputting to.

The sensor control unit 6 controls the image sensor 2 with the sensitivity and the shutter speed calculated by the exposure calculation device 5.
The aperture control unit 7 controls the aperture unit of the optical system 1 with the aperture value calculated by the exposure calculation device 5.
The image processing unit 8 performs gamma conversion or the like to generate display image data.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the camera 100. The camera 100 of this embodiment operates as follows according to the flowchart of FIG.

(Step S001)
First, when this operation of the camera 100 is started by turning on a power switch (not shown), the calculation unit 52 of the exposure calculation device 5 sets an initial value for the exposure value. If exposure correction is set by the photographer via the operation unit 11, the correction amount is added to the exposure value.
Next, based on the exposure value, the shooting condition determination unit 53 uses, for example, a program diagram to obtain a control value, that is, the aperture value of the aperture unit 1a of the optical system 1, the sensitivity of the image sensor 2, and the shutter speed. calculate.

(Step S002)
The aperture control unit 7 controls the aperture unit 1a of the optical system 1 based on the aperture value calculated by the imaging condition determination unit 53, and the sensor control unit 6 uses the sensitivity and shutter speed calculated by the imaging condition determination unit 53. Then, the imaging sensor 2 is caused to acquire imaging data of the object scene.
The imaging data acquired by the imaging sensor 2 is analog output to the A / D conversion unit 3, A / D converted by the A / D unit, and output to the data processing unit 51 and the image processing unit 8.
At that time, when the load of image processing is large, the data processing unit 51 may read out the pixels of the image sensor 2 by thinning out the rows for each row, and may add the A / D converted data every several rows. .

(Step S003)
The image processing unit 8 outputs the gamma-converted data to the display unit 9, and the display unit 9 displays an image.

(Step S004)
The data processing unit 51 processes the output of the A / D conversion unit 3 into exposure calculation data.
The data processing in the data processing unit 51 includes the following blocking.
3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating the pixels of the image sensor 2. FIG. 3A is an output example of the image sensor in which a plurality of RGB pixels are arranged in a Bayer array, and FIG. 3B is a block diagram illustrating the output example. It is.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the image sensor 2 has a plurality of RGB pixels arranged in a Bayer array. However, in the exposure calculation, not all pixels or all data thinned out or added for display are necessarily required. If the number of data is large, the calculation load increases and the responsiveness of the operation deteriorates. Therefore, it is possible to block the exposure calculation so as not to deteriorate the accuracy.
FIG. 3B shows the pixels that are blocked. In FIG. 3 (b), blocks are averaged for each RGB.
Here, it is assumed that the RGB output before blocking is R [i, j], G [i, j], B [i, j]. The RGB output after blocking is Rbk [x, y], Gbk [x, y], and Bbk [x, y]. Also, luminance data calculated from Rbk [x, y], Gbk [x, y], and Bbk [x, y] is Ybk [x, y].

(Step S005)
Returning to the flowchart, in step S005, it is determined whether or not the photographer has performed underexposure correction via the operation unit 11 in the imaging operation in step 002.
(Step S006)
If underexposure correction has been performed (step S005, YES), the process proceeds to step 006. If not corrected (step S005, NO), the process proceeds to step 007.

Here, FIG. 4 shows imaging data in which the horizontal axis represents the pixel position and the vertical axis represents the imaging data output from the A / D conversion unit 3. FIG. 4A shows imaging data before exposure correction, and OvfLvl represents the overflow level of the imaging sensor 2.
The subject shown in FIG. 4A has a large luminance difference, and some data overflows. In the exposure calculation, only the data in the hatched portion A is the calculation target as the exposure value, and the data in the overflow portion B cannot be calculated.

  Here, first, a comparative example will be described for convenience of description. In the comparative embodiment, when an image showing an output as shown in FIG. 4A is under-corrected to, for example, minus 1 EV, the calculation unit 52 adjusts the exposure value to the exposure control in accordance with the under-correction. Control is performed so that the exposure value A is set to half (A / 2) which is set as an optimum in the apparatus 50 in advance.

  In this embodiment, as an example, the exposure value is controlled by changing the shutter speed, and the shutter speed is set to Tb = Ta / 2. Note that the control of the exposure value is not limited to the change of the shutter speed, but may be a change of the aperture, sensitivity, and the like.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating imaging data output when Tb = Ta / 2 from the state of FIG. When the shutter speed becomes Tb = Ta / 2, the overexposed portion (overflow portion) B in FIG. Therefore, the exposure value is A / 2 + B, which is larger than the target A / 2.
However, since the exposure value target value is A / 2, the exposure calculation device 5 sets the shutter speed Tc so that the exposure value is changed from A / 2 + B to A / 2.

  Then, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 4B, for example, the brightness (graph indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4B) predicted by the photographer who performed exposure correction is displayed on the display unit 9. The image becomes dark.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the exposure calculation device 5 does not use the exposure value B of the portion that has been saturated (the portion that has overflowed) when performing exposure correction in the exposure calculation. To do.

Hereinafter, the calculation method of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 4C is a diagram for explaining the calculation method of the present embodiment.
(Step S006)
In step S005, when the exposure correction is underperformed (step S005, YES), the data processing unit 51 performs a pseudo overflow process on the imaging data.
The pseudo overflow process is the following process.
PsdOvfLvl = OvfLvl × 2 ^ (Ho)
Formula (1)
If V [x, y]> PsdOvfLvl, V [x, y] = PsdOvfLvl.
Formula (2)
Here, V [x, y] is Rbk [x, y], Gbk [x, y], Bbk [x, y], or Ybk [x, y] (processing is performed on all data). .
Ho is an exposure undercorrection amount (negative value).
OvfLvl is the overflow level.
PsdOvfLvl is a pseudo overflow level.
That is, for example, when one-stage undercorrection is performed, the level obtained by the above equation (1) is set as the pseudo overflow level (PsdOvfLvl in FIG. 4C), and when the luminance is higher than the pseudo overflow level, the luminance is simulated. Calculate exposure as an overflow level (clip).

(Step S007)
Then, the exposure calculation device 5 performs an exposure calculation based on RGB output or V [x, y] that is luminance data.
Based on the calculated exposure value, the imaging condition determination unit 53 calculates the next control value (the aperture value of the aperture unit of the optical system 1 and the sensitivity and shutter speed of the image sensor 2). If exposure correction is set by the photographer, the correction amount is added to the exposure value.

(Step S008)
Next, it is determined whether or not a release operation has been performed by the photographer.
(Step S009)
If the release operation is being performed (if a signal indicating the release operation is input) (step S008, YES), still image shooting processing is performed. In still image shooting, thinning out is not performed. Then, the output of the image processing unit 8 is recorded in the memory card 10.
If the release operation is not performed by the photographer (when no signal indicating the release operation is input) (step S008, NO), the process returns to step 002.
In step 002, the imaging operation of the imaging sensor 2 is performed based on the control value obtained in step 007 as in the above description.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the image data after underexposure correction is limited to PsdOvfLvl or less, as shown in FIG. ). In that area, the exposure calculation is performed so that the exposure correction intended by the photographer is performed. Therefore, there is almost no variation from the intended exposure value.
In addition, it is possible to perform calculation using data thinned out in order to multiply the display data and exposure calculation data by the same gain, and it is not necessary to increase the load and time of data processing.

(Deformation)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and changes as described below are possible, and these are also within the scope of the present invention.
(1) In the present embodiment, the case where the photographer performs underexposure correction has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when taking a picture with exposure adjusted to underexposure to suppress overexposure and increasing the lightness of the dark area gradation to suppress underexposure in the photographing device, this may be the case. In addition, the present invention is applicable.
(2) In the present embodiment, the mode of correcting exposure to the under side when overflowing has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, in the case of blackout (underflow), the present invention can also be applied when correcting exposure to the over side.
In that case, a pseudo underflow process is performed instead of the above pseudo overflow level process.
PsdUdfLvl = UdfLvl × 2 ^ (Ho2)
Formula (3)
If V [x, y] <PsdUdfLvl, V [x, y] = PsdUdfLvl.
Formula (4)
Ho2 is an overexposure correction amount (positive value).
UdfLvl is an underflow level.
PsdUdfLvl is a pseudo underflow level.
Also in this case, similarly to the above-described embodiment, since the imaging data after overexposure correction is limited to PsdUdfLvl or more, the calculation target data is substantially the same as before correction. Therefore, there is almost no fluctuation of the exposure value.
In addition, although embodiment and a deformation | transformation form can also be used in combination as appropriate, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted. Further, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above.

  1: photographing optical system, 1a: diaphragm unit, 2: imaging sensor, 3: A / D conversion unit, 5: exposure control unit, 5: exposure calculation device, 6: sensor control unit, 7: diaphragm control unit, 8: Image processing unit, 9: display unit, 10: memory card, 11: operation unit, 20: control unit, 50: exposure calculation device, 52: calculation unit, 53: photographing condition determination unit, 54: correction information input unit, 100 :camera

Claims (9)

A calculation unit that calculates the exposure value of the captured image based on the input luminance data and correction information related to the exposure value;
A photographing condition determining unit for obtaining a photographing condition from the exposure value calculated by the calculating unit;
A correction information input unit for inputting underexposure correction information related to an exposure value to the calculation unit;
In an exposure control device comprising:
The computing unit is
When the underexposure correction information is input from the correction information input unit, an exposure calculation is performed based on luminance data that is limited as compared with the case where the underexposure correction information is not input.
An exposure control device characterized by. The exposure control device according to claim 1,
When the under-exposure correction information is input, the calculation unit performs an exposure calculation based on luminance data limited within a range equal to or less than a predetermined value smaller than the overflow level obtained using the overflow level of the imaging sensor. about,
An exposure control device characterized by. The exposure control device according to claim 1 or 2,
The calculation unit performs an exposure calculation when displaying the captured image as a through image;
An exposure control device characterized by. The exposure control device according to claim 3,
The calculation unit uses the luminance data in common with the live view display of the captured image and the exposure value calculation for determining the shooting condition;
An exposure control device characterized by. The exposure control apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4,
The difference between the predetermined value and the overflow level increases as the underexposure correction amount increases;
An exposure control device characterized by. An exposure control apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
Set the underexposure correction amount to Ho (negative value),
Overflow level is OvfLvl,
And the predetermined value is
PsdOvfLvl = OvfLvl × 2 ^ (Ho)
Formula (1)
Being
An exposure control device characterized by. A calculation unit that calculates the exposure value of the captured image based on the input luminance data and correction information related to the exposure value;
A photographing condition determining unit for obtaining a photographing condition from the exposure value calculated by the calculating unit;
A correction information input unit that inputs overcorrection information related to an exposure value to the calculation unit;
In an exposure control device comprising:
The computing unit is
When the overcorrection information is input from the correction information input unit, performing an exposure calculation based on luminance data that is more limited than when the overexposure correction information is not input,
An exposure control device characterized by. The exposure control device according to claim 7,
The calculation unit, when the overexposure correction information is input, performs an exposure calculation based on luminance data limited in a range equal to or greater than a predetermined value greater than the underflow level of the imaging sensor;
An exposure control device characterized by.   An optical apparatus comprising the exposure control device according to claim 1.

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