JP2006253998A - Imaging apparatus and imaging method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To extend battery life more effectively by simple processing.
When a shutter half-press is detected in a shooting mode, a control unit 20 measures the brightness of a subject in a low power consumption mode and a remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined level. A predetermined aperture value is set (fixed) so that the depth of field is not less than a predetermined value. Then, the control unit 20 controls the analog signal processing unit 15 to set the electronic shutter speed according to the measured brightness and the set aperture value, and prohibits the movement of the focus lens. When a full shutter release is detected, the image is taken with the set shooting parameters and recorded in the image buffer 26.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus and an imaging method for reducing power consumption of a battery.

Conventionally, in digital cameras, when the remaining battery level is less than or equal to a predetermined remaining level, to limit the operation of the strobe light emitting unit that consumes a large amount of power, and to compensate for the reduced brightness due to the operation limitation of the strobe light emitting unit, A technique for reducing the shutter speed is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-134850 A

  However, the above-mentioned prior art can obtain the effect of extending the battery life when shooting at night, etc. However, in normal daytime shooting, there is often no need for strobe light emission, which can effectively extend the battery life. There was a problem that I could not.

  As a recent trend, in order to shorten the shooting interval, a large-capacity memory is mounted in the device, and a capture operation and a write operation to the memory are performed in parallel. In this case, it is premised that writing into the memory can be surely performed, and when there is imaging data that has not been written into the memory, it is desirable not to perform the processing with the load as heavy as possible.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus and an imaging method that can effectively extend the battery life by simple processing.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image pickup apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is an image pickup apparatus that is driven by a battery, and includes a photographing unit, a focus lens for focusing an image photographed by the photographing unit, and a diaphragm mechanism. An optical system, a focus lens driving system that moves the focus lens in the optical axis direction, a battery remaining amount detecting unit that detects the remaining amount of the battery, and a remaining battery level that is less than a predetermined remaining amount by the battery remaining amount detecting unit When it is detected, the aperture value of the optical system is set so that the depth of field becomes a predetermined value or more, and the movement of the focus lens drive system is restricted, and the image is taken by the photographing means. And a photographing control means for executing the above.

  Further, as a preferable aspect, for example, as in claim 2, in the imaging apparatus according to claim 1, the photographing control unit sets the aperture value so that the depth of field becomes a predetermined value or more. Insufficient exposure may be compensated by slowing the shutter speed that defines the exposure time.

  Further, as a preferable aspect, for example, as in claim 3, low power consumption mode setting means capable of selectively setting a low power consumption mode for photographing with low power consumption in the imaging apparatus of claim 1. And the photographing control means includes a condition as to whether or not the low power consumption mode setting means is set to a low power consumption mode and a condition as to whether or not a remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined remaining amount. Based on the combination, the aperture value of the optical system is set so that the depth of field becomes a predetermined value or more, and the movement of the focus lens drive system is restricted, and the photographing unit executes photographing. May be.

  As a preferred embodiment, for example, as in claim 4, in the imaging apparatus according to claim 1, temporary recording means for temporarily holding photographed image data, and image data held in the temporary recording means And a non-recorded data detecting means for detecting presence / absence of photographing data not stored in the non-volatile recording means, the photographing control means using the unrecorded data detecting means Based on the combination of the condition of presence / absence of shooting data not stored in the non-volatile recording means and the condition of whether or not the low power consumption mode is set by the low power consumption mode setting means, the depth of field is The aperture value of the optical system is set so as to be equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and the movement of the focus lens drive system is restricted, and shooting is performed by the shooting unit. It may be.

  Further, as a preferable aspect, for example, as in claim 5, in the imaging apparatus according to claim 1, a distance measuring unit that measures a subject distance to the subject, a subject distance corresponding to the current focus lens position, and a new subject distance are newly added. Subject distance difference calculating means for calculating a difference from the measured subject distance, and determination means for determining whether or not the calculated difference in the subject distance can be ignored based on the depth of field based on the current aperture value. And when the determination means determines that the difference in subject distance is negligible, the imaging control means does not change the aperture value, and the optical depth is adjusted to a predetermined value or more without changing the aperture value. The aperture value of the system is set, the movement of the focus lens drive system is limited, the photographing is performed by the photographing unit, and the difference in the subject distance can be ignored by the judging unit. If the aperture value is set to a depth of field that can absorb the calculated subject distance difference, the movement of the focus lens drive system is limited, and the photographing means You may make it perform imaging | photography.

  In order to achieve the above object, an imaging method according to a sixth aspect of the invention is an imaging method of an imaging device that is driven by a battery and shoots by a shooting unit, and the remaining amount of the battery is equal to or less than a predetermined remaining amount. A focus lens that sets the aperture value of the optical system so that the depth of field is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and moves the focus lens in the optical axis direction in order to focus the latent image formed on the photographing unit. The movement of the drive system is limited, and imaging is performed by the imaging unit.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the remaining battery level detecting unit detects that the remaining battery level is equal to or lower than the predetermined remaining level, the shooting control unit sets the depth of field to be equal to or higher than the predetermined value. In this way, the aperture value of the optical system is set and the movement of the focus lens drive system is limited so that shooting is performed by the shooting unit. Setting a value results in a so-called pan focus mode where the focusing range is widened, eliminating the need to perform focus and aperture operations during shooting, thus providing the advantage of reducing power consumption accordingly. .

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the shutter speed that defines the exposure time is used to detect underexposure caused by setting the aperture value so that the depth of field becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined value by the photographing control means. Since the delay is compensated, there is an advantage that power consumption can be reduced without underexposure in the pan focus mode.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, a condition as to whether or not the low power consumption mode setting means sets the low power consumption mode, and a condition as to whether or not the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined remaining amount. Based on the combination, the imaging control means sets the aperture value of the optical system so that the depth of field becomes a predetermined value or more, and restricts the movement of the focus lens drive system to Since the photographing is executed by the means, a so-called pan focus mode in which the range of selective focusing is widened can be set, so that power consumption can be reduced and convenience is improved. The advantage that it can be obtained.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the unrecorded data detection means sets the presence / absence of photographing data not stored in the nonvolatile recording means, and the low power consumption mode setting means sets the low power consumption mode. Based on the combination with the condition of whether or not it is set, the shooting control means sets the aperture value of the optical system so that the depth of field becomes a predetermined value or more, and the focus lens drive system Since the movement is restricted and shooting is performed by the shooting unit, the pan focus mode can be set, and power consumption can be reduced correspondingly, and time (power) for writing unrecorded data can be reduced. Therefore, there is an advantage that the data can be saved with certainty.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, when the determination means determines that the difference in subject distance can be ignored, the depth of field is set to a predetermined value without changing the aperture value by the photographing control means. The aperture value of the optical system is set so as to be as described above, the movement of the focus lens drive system is restricted, the photographing unit performs shooting, and the determination unit determines that the difference in subject distance cannot be ignored. In such a case, after the aperture value is set by the photographing control means so that the calculated depth of field can absorb the difference in the subject distance, the movement of the focus lens driving system is limited, Since the photographing is performed by the photographing means, the power consumption is reduced by performing the pan focus mode photographing without driving the diaphragm mechanism and changing the aperture value. An advantage that it is Rukoto is obtained.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the aperture value of the optical system is set so that the depth of field is equal to or greater than a predetermined value when the remaining amount of the battery is equal to or less than the predetermined remaining amount, and the photographing unit Since the movement of the focus lens drive system that moves the focus lens in the optical axis direction to limit the focus of the latent image formed on the top is limited, the shooting unit executes shooting, so the depth of field By setting the aperture value so that is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the so-called pan focus mode is widened, which eliminates the need for focus and aperture operations during shooting, thus reducing power consumption. The advantage that it can be obtained.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
A. First embodiment A-1. Configuration of First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a digital camera according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the image acquisition unit 10 includes a lens 11, a shutter 12, and an LPF 13. The lens 11 is a normal optical lens and includes a lens group in which aspherical lenses are stacked. The shutter 12 is a so-called mechanical shutter that is operated by the driver 14 driven by the control unit 20 when the shutter button 271 is operated. Depending on the digital camera, a mechanical shutter may not be provided. In the case of a model equipped with a retractable lens structure and a mechanical zoom, these drivers are also controlled by the driver 14. The LPF 13 is a crystal low-pass filter and is mounted to prevent the occurrence of moire.

  Next, the analog signal processing unit 15 includes an image sensor (CCD, CMOS) 16, a sampling / signal amplification processing unit 17, and an A / D converter 18. The imaging sensor 16 forms a subject image (image), and converts the intensity of light of each color of RGB into a current value. The sampling / signal amplification processing unit 17 performs correlated double sampling processing and signal amplification processing for suppressing noise and color unevenness. The A / D converter 18 is also called an analog front end, and converts the sampled / amplified analog signal into a digital signal (converts each color of RGB and CMYG into 12-bit data and outputs it to the bus line).

  Next, the control unit (CPU) 20 controls the entire digital camera 1 (imaging device) according to a program stored in a program memory described later. In particular, in the first embodiment, detection of the remaining battery level of the battery 35, which will be described later, determination of whether the remaining battery level is less than a predetermined remaining level, measurement of the brightness of the subject, measurement of the distance to the subject, aperture value And the electronic shutter speed are set. In the first embodiment, as a shooting mode, a normal mode in which shooting is performed without considering low power consumption, and a low power consumption in which shooting is performed in consideration of low power consumption when a predetermined condition is satisfied. There is a mode. The user can select whether to shoot in the normal mode or the low power consumption mode. The control unit 20 basically performs shooting in the low power consumption mode in which the shooting is performed in consideration of the reduction in power consumption when the battery is in the low power consumption mode and the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the predetermined remaining amount. Details of the operations in the normal mode and the low power consumption mode will be described later.

  The preview engine 22 is stored in the image buffer 26 immediately after detection of digital data input via the image acquisition unit 10 or the analog signal processing unit 15 in the recording mode (also referred to as recording mode or photographing mode) or immediately after the shutter operation is detected. Thinning processing is performed in order to display the digital data and the digital data stored in the image memory 31 on the display unit 25. The D / A converter 23 converts the digital data thinned out by the preview engine 22 and outputs it to the driver 24 at the subsequent stage. The driver 24 includes a buffer area for temporarily storing digital data displayed on the display unit 25 at the subsequent stage, and drives the display unit 25 based on a control signal input via the key operation unit 27 and the control unit 20. The display unit 25 includes a color TFT liquid crystal, an STN liquid crystal, or the like, and displays a preview image, image data after shooting, a setting menu, and the like.

  The image buffer 26 temporarily stores digital data immediately after photographing until it is input via the analog signal processing unit 15 or the digital signal processing unit 28 and passed to the digital signal processing unit 28. The key operation unit 27 includes a shutter button, a recording / playback mode selection slide switch, a menu button, a cross key (determined by pressing the center), and the like.

  The digital signal processing unit 28 performs white balance processing, color processing, gradation processing, contour emphasis, conversion from RGB format to YUV format, YUV format for digital data input via the analog signal processing unit 15. To JPEG format. The digital signal processing unit 28 also generates an image file according to the Exif standard from the image data captured by the image acquisition unit 10 and the analog signal processing unit 15. The image compression / decompression processing unit 29 compresses and encodes the digital data input via the digital signal processing unit 28 into the JPEG format, or decompresses the JPEG format file in the reproduction mode.

  The program memory 30 stores various programs loaded on the control unit 20, EV values in the best shot function, color correction information, and the like. The image memory 31 stores image data temporarily held in the image buffer 26 and digital data converted into various file formats. The card I / F 32 controls data exchange between the external recording medium 33 and the imaging apparatus main body. The external recording medium 33 is a detachable recording medium composed of a compact flash (registered trademark), a memory stick, an SD card, or the like. The external connection I / F 34 includes a USB connector slot and the like, is connected to a personal computer or the like, and is used for transferring photographed image data. The battery 35 includes a disposable primary battery, a rechargeable secondary battery, and the like, and supplies power for driving the above-described units.

A-2. Operation of First Embodiment Next, the operation of the first embodiment described above will be described. 2 and 3 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the digital camera according to the first embodiment. In the shooting mode, first, it is determined whether or not the shutter is half-pressed (step S10), and if the shutter is half-pressed, it is determined whether or not it is a low power consumption mode (step S12). If it is in the low power consumption mode, it is determined whether the remaining battery level is equal to or lower than a predetermined remaining level (step S14).

  Then, when the shutter is half-pressed, if the battery is not currently in the low power consumption mode or is in the low power consumption mode but the remaining battery level is not less than or equal to the predetermined remaining battery level, the process proceeds to the following normal operation. First, the brightness of the subject is measured (step S24), and it is determined whether or not the aperture priority mode is set (step S26). If the aperture priority mode is set, the aperture value is set to a designated value (step S28), and the electronic shutter speed is set according to the measured brightness and the set aperture value (step S30). ).

  On the other hand, when the mode is not the aperture priority mode, the electronic shutter speed is set to a designated value (step S32), and the aperture value is set according to the measured brightness and the set electronic shutter speed (step S34). ).

  In either case, the distance to the subject is measured (step S36), and the focus lens is moved to focus on the measured distance (step S38). Next, it is determined whether or not the shutter has been fully pressed (step S40). When the shutter is fully pressed, the image is taken with the set shooting parameters and recorded in the image buffer 26 (step S42). Then, it is determined whether or not the photographing has been completed or the power has been turned off (step S44). When the photographing termination operation or the power off operation has been performed, the processing is terminated. On the other hand, if no operation is performed, the process returns to step S10 and the above-described photographing operation is repeated.

  On the other hand, when it is in the low power consumption mode and the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the predetermined remaining level, the brightness of the subject is measured (step S16). Next, a predetermined aperture value is set (fixed) so that the depth of field is not less than a predetermined value (step S18). By setting the aperture value so that the depth of field is equal to or greater than a predetermined depth, a so-called pan focus mode is achieved in which the in-focus range is widened. Next, an electronic shutter speed is set according to the measured brightness and the set aperture value (step S20). At this time, the underexposure caused by setting the aperture value so that the depth of field is equal to or greater than a predetermined value is compensated by slowing the shutter speed that defines the exposure time. Next, the movement of the focus lens is prohibited (step S22).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the shutter has been fully pressed (step S40). When the shutter is fully pressed, the image is taken with the set shooting parameters and recorded in the image buffer 26 (step S42). Then, it is determined whether or not the photographing has been completed or the power has been turned off (step S44). When the photographing termination operation or the power off operation has been performed, the processing is terminated. On the other hand, if no operation is performed, the process returns to step S10 and the above-described photographing operation is repeated.

  As described above, in the low power consumption mode and when the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the predetermined remaining level, by setting the aperture value so that the depth of field becomes equal to or greater than the predetermined range, the in-focus range is set. By adopting a so-called pan focus mode that becomes wider, it becomes unnecessary to perform focus and aperture operations during shooting, so that it is possible to reduce power consumption accordingly.

B. Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The configuration of the digital camera is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Here, FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a partial operation (only different points from the first embodiment) of the digital camera according to the second embodiment. In the first embodiment described above, the iris is fixed to the dark side and the focus lens is moved on the condition that the low power consumption mode is set after the shutter half-press and the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the predetermined remaining level. Shooting was prohibited (pan-focus mode shooting).

  On the other hand, in the second embodiment, in steps S50 to S54 shown in FIG. 4, it is determined whether or not the shutter is half-pressed (step S50), as in steps S10 to S14 shown in FIG. When the shutter button is half-pressed, it is determined whether or not the low power consumption mode is set (step S52). If it is in the low power consumption mode, it is determined whether the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined remaining level (step S54). If the remaining battery level is less than or equal to the predetermined remaining level, in the second embodiment, it is further determined whether or not there is unwritten data (step S56). Then, in the low power consumption mode, when the remaining battery level is equal to or lower than the predetermined remaining level, and there is unwritten data, the depth of field becomes equal to or higher than the predetermined level as in the first embodiment described above. The aperture value is set to the so-called pan focus mode in which the focusing range is widened, and the pan focus mode shooting is performed without performing the focus or the aperture operation during shooting.

  When there is unwritten data, that is, when temporary data (still image, audio, moving image, etc.) not recorded in the image memory 31 (nonvolatile memory) or the external recording medium 33 exists on the image buffer 26 It is. In other words, if there is unwritten data and the normal operation is executed, the remaining battery capacity for recording the unwritten data on the image buffer 26 in the image memory 31 (nonvolatile memory) or the external recording medium 33 is reached. There is a possibility that unwritten data will be lost. Therefore, when there is unwritten data, as described in detail in the first embodiment, the power consumption is reduced by executing pan-focus mode imaging so that the power-off process is started earlier.

  More specifically, when there is unwritten data, the power is turned off early by slightly increasing the minimum battery voltage, that is, the threshold of the end voltage, which is a condition for forcibly turning off the power. Operate to enter the process. Thereby, since the battery voltage at the time of shifting to the power-off process is set high, unwritten data on the image buffer 26, which is one of the power-off processes, is stored in the image memory 31 (nonvolatile memory) or the external recording medium. The time (power) for writing to 33 has a margin, and reliable data storage is possible.

  In addition, since the process after step S50 is the same as 1st Embodiment mentioned above, description is abbreviate | omitted. In the second embodiment described above, the shift to the pan-focus mode shooting is performed when the low power consumption mode, the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the predetermined remaining level, and all of the unwritten data are satisfied. (AND) Not limited to this, the transition to the pan-focus mode shooting may be performed when any one of the conditions is satisfied (OR) or a combination thereof (a combination of AND and OR). Alternatively, the user may be able to select under which conditions to shift to pan-focus mode shooting.

C. Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The configuration of the digital camera is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Here, FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a partial operation of the digital camera according to the third embodiment (only a portion different from the first embodiment).

  In steps S60 to S64 shown in FIG. 5, it is determined whether or not the shutter is half-pressed (step S60) as in steps S10 to S16 shown in FIG. It is determined whether or not (step S62). If it is in the low power consumption mode, it is determined whether the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined remaining level (step S64). When the battery is in the low power consumption mode and the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the predetermined remaining level, the brightness of the subject is measured as in the first embodiment described above (step S66).

  In the third embodiment, the distance to the subject is then measured (step S68), and the difference between the subject distance corresponding to the current focus lens position and the newly measured subject distance is calculated (step S70). ). Next, based on a predetermined criterion, it is determined whether or not the depth of field based on the current aperture value can absorb the difference in the calculated subject distance (step S72). That is, it is determined that the subject existing at the new subject distance can be focused with the depth of field based on the current aperture value (step S72).

  Then, as a result of the determination, it is determined whether or not the difference in subject distance can be sufficiently ignored with the depth of field based on the current aperture value, that is, whether or not the focus is achieved without changing the current aperture value ( In step S74), if negligible, the electronic shutter speed is set according to the measured brightness and the set aperture value without driving the aperture mechanism to change the aperture value (step S78), and focusing. The lens movement is prohibited (step S80). Hereinafter, as in the first embodiment described above, pan-focus mode shooting is performed without performing focus or aperture operation during shooting.

  On the other hand, if the difference in subject distance cannot be sufficiently ignored with the depth of field based on the current aperture value, an aperture value is set such that the calculated depth of field can be ignored (step difference). S76) Hereinafter, as described above, the electronic shutter speed is set according to the measured brightness and the set aperture value (step S78), the focus lens movement is prohibited (step S80), and the first described above. As in the embodiment, pan focus mode shooting is performed without performing focus or aperture operation during shooting.

  According to the third embodiment described above, even when the distance to the subject changes in continuous shooting, the difference between the current subject distance and the new subject distance can be ignored. If focus is achieved without changing, it is possible to reduce power consumption by performing pan-focus mode imaging without driving the aperture mechanism and changing the aperture value.

  In the first to third embodiments described above, only the digital camera has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is also applicable to an electronic device having a photographing function and driven by a battery, such as a mobile phone with a camera. May be.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the digital camera by 1st Embodiment of this invention. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the digital camera according to the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the digital camera according to the first embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the partial operation | movement (only a different part from 1st Embodiment) of the digital camera by this 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the partial operation | movement (only a different part from 1st Embodiment) of the digital camera by this 3rd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10 Image acquisition unit (optical system, focus lens drive system)
11 Lens 12 Shutter 13 LPF
14 Driver 15 Analog Signal Processing Unit 16 Imaging Sensor (Imaging Means)
17 Sampling / Signal Amplification Processing Unit 18 A / D Converter 20 Control Unit (Battery level detection means, imaging control means, unrecorded data detection means, distance measurement means, subject distance difference calculation means, determination means)
22 Preview Engine 23 D / A Converter 24 Driver 25 Display Unit 26 Image Buffer (Temporary Holding Unit)
27 Key operation unit (low power consumption mode setting means)
28 Digital Signal Processing Unit 29 Image Compression / Expansion Processing Unit 30 Program Memory 31 Image Memory (Recording Unit)
32 card I / F
33 External recording medium (recording means)
34 External connection I / F
35 batteries

Claims (6)

An imaging device driven by a battery,
Photographing means;
An optical system including a focus lens for focusing an image photographed by the photographing means, and a diaphragm mechanism;
A focus lens drive system for moving the focus lens in the optical axis direction;
Battery remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the battery;
When the remaining battery level detection means detects that the remaining battery level is less than or equal to a predetermined remaining level, the aperture value of the optical system is set so that the depth of field is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and the focus An imaging apparatus comprising: an imaging control unit that limits the movement of the lens driving system and executes imaging by the imaging unit.   The imaging control unit compensates for an underexposure caused by setting an aperture value so that a depth of field becomes a predetermined value or more by slowing a shutter speed that defines an exposure time. The imaging apparatus according to 1. Comprising low power consumption mode setting means capable of selectively setting a low power consumption mode for photographing with low power consumption;
The photographing control unit is based on a combination of a condition whether or not the low power consumption mode setting unit sets the low power consumption mode and a condition whether or not the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined remaining amount. The aperture value of the optical system is set so that the depth of field becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the movement of the focus lens drive system is limited, and the imaging unit executes imaging. Item 2. The imaging device according to Item 1. Temporary recording means for temporarily storing captured image data;
Nonvolatile recording means for storing image data held in the temporary recording means;
Comprising unrecorded data detection means for detecting the presence or absence of shooting data not stored in the nonvolatile recording means,
The photographing control means includes a condition for presence / absence of photographing data that is not stored in the non-volatile recording means by the unrecorded data detecting means, and whether the low power consumption mode is set by the low power consumption mode setting means. Based on the combination with the above condition, the aperture value of the optical system is set so that the depth of field is not less than a predetermined value, and the movement of the focus lens drive system is restricted, and the photographing unit performs photographing. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging apparatus is executed. Distance measuring means for measuring the subject distance to the subject;
Subject distance difference calculating means for calculating a difference between the subject distance corresponding to the current focus lens position and the newly measured subject distance;
Determining means for determining whether or not the difference in the calculated subject distance can be ignored according to the depth of field according to the current aperture value;
The photographing control means includes
When it is determined by the determining means that the difference in subject distance can be ignored, the aperture value of the optical system is set so that the depth of field is not less than a predetermined value without changing the aperture value. Limiting the movement of the focus lens drive system, shooting is performed by the imaging unit, and if the determination unit determines that the difference in subject distance cannot be ignored, the difference in the calculated subject distance is absorbed. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after the aperture value is set so that the depth of field can be achieved, the movement of the focus lens driving system is limited and the imaging unit performs imaging. An imaging method of an imaging device that is driven by a battery and images by an imaging unit,
To set the aperture value of the optical system so that the depth of field is equal to or greater than a predetermined value when the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the predetermined remaining level, and to focus the latent image formed on the photographing unit An imaging method characterized in that the imaging unit performs imaging by restricting movement of a focus lens drive system that moves the focus lens in the optical axis direction.

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