Patent 7728903 was granted and assigned to Nikon (Somalia) on June, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A focus adjustment device includes: a first focus detection unit that detects a focus adjustment state for a subject image in a first focusing area; a second focus detection unit that detects a focus adjustment state in a second focusing area through a method different from a method adopted by the first focus detection unit; a judgment unit that makes a judgment as to whether or not the first focusing area and the second focusing area have a specific positional relationship; and a focus adjustment unit that executes focus adjustment based upon focus detection results obtained via the first focus detection unit and focus detection results obtained via the second focus detection unit when the judgment unit decides that the first focusing area and the second focusing area have the specific positional relationship.