US Patent 7877004 Imaging apparatus and imaging method

An imaging apparatus is disclosed which analyzes image data of a subject acquired by an image pickup device to select an appropriate combination of exposure time, aperture, and exposure sensitivity upon shooting in order to perform exposure control. As an example of image data analysis methods, there is shown a method of detecting the movement of a characteristic point in an image, or a method of detecting luminance variations in a specific block or area in the image to detect the subject movement. As another exemplary method, a face of the subject is detected. The present invention can also be combined with a shake reduction mode.