Electronic camera

Abstract

An electronic camera includes a face detecting section, a setting section, and a controlling section. The face detecting section detects a face of a subject. The setting section sets a scene shooting mode to adjust a shooting condition to an optimum shooting condition in accordance with each pre-assumed shooting scene. The controlling section controls the face detection of the face detecting section only when the setting section has set a scene shooting mode for shooting a scene including a person.

1 . An electronic camera, comprising: 
 a face detecting section which detects a face of a subject;    a setting section which sets a scene shooting mode to adjust a shooting condition to an optimum shooting condition in accordance with each of pre-assumed shooting scenes; and    a controlling section which controls the face detection of said face detecting section only when said setting section has set a scene shooting mode for shooting a scene including a person.    
   
   
       2 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , wherein 
 the scene shooting mode for shooting the scene including a person is a portrait shooting mode.    
   
   
       3 . The electronic camera according to  claim 2 , wherein 
 said controlling section does not allow said face detecting section to perform the face detection when the portrait shooting mode is a portrait shooting mode for shooting a night landscape.    
   
   
       4 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , wherein 
 said controlling section controls a shooting lens to focus on a face area detected by said face detecting section.    
   
   
       5 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , further comprising 
 a function setting section which sets a function for each of scene shooting modes, wherein    the scene shooting mode for shooting the scene including a person is provided with a setting item regarding the face detection.    
   
   
       6 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , wherein 
 during the face detection by said face detecting section, the electronic camera stops a digital zoom function of electronically magnifying a magnifying power.    
   
   
       7 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , wherein 
 during the face detection by said face detecting section, the electronic camera stops a closeup shooting function of shifting a shooting lens for closeup shooting.    
   
   
       8 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , further comprising 
 a display section which displays a subject image obtained before shooting, wherein    during the face detection by said face detecting section, an amount of shooting information for display on said display section is reduced compared with while the face detection is not performed.    
   
   
       9 . An electronic camera, comprising: 
 an image pickup device which photoelectrically converts a subject image obtained by an optical shooting system to generate an image signal of an image shooting plane;    a face recognizing section which detects a face area in the image shooting plane according to said image signal;    a focus area specifying section which sets, as a specified focus area, a focus area including a contour of the face area among a group of focus areas arranged in said image shooting plane; and    a focusing section which calculates a focus evaluation value of said subject image according to the image signal corresponding to the specified focus area and detects a position of said optical shooting system as a focusing position when the focus evaluation value is maximum.    
   
   
       10 . The electronic camera according to  claim 9 , wherein 
 said focus area specifying section sets, as the specified focus area, a part of plural focus areas including the contour of the face area.    
   
   
       11 . The electronic camera according to  claim 10 , wherein 
 said focus area specifying section sets, as the specified focus area, a focus area overlapping with the contour of the face area at an upper side or a side thereof.    
   
   
       12 . The electronic camera according to  claim 9 , wherein 
 said focus area specifying section changes the specified focus area to a focus area located below the face area, when the focusing position is not detected in the focus area including the contour of the face area.    
   
   
       13 . The electronic camera according to  claim 10 , wherein 
 said focus area specifying section changes the specified focus area to a focus area located below the face area, when the focusing position is not detected in the focus area including the contour of the face area.    
   
   
       14 . The electronic camera according to  claim 11 , wherein: 
 said face recognizing section detects a direction of the face based on a positional relation of face parts in said face area; and    said focus area specifying section changes a position of the focus area to be the specified focus area, according to the direction of the face.    
   
   
       15 . The electronic camera according to  claim 12 , wherein: 
 said face recognizing section detects a direction of the face based on a positional relation of face parts in the face area; and    said focus area specifying section changes a position of the focus area to be the specified focus area, according to the direction of the face.    
   
   
       16 . The electronic camera according to  claim 11 , further comprising 
 an attitude detecting section which detects a shooting attitude of the electronic camera, wherein    said focus area specifying section changes a position of the focus area to be the specified focus area, according to the shooting attitude.    
   
   
       17 . The electronic camera according to  claim 12 , further comprising 
 an attitude detecting section which detects a shooting attitude of said electronic camera, wherein    said focus area specifying section changes a position of the focus area to be the specified focus area, according to the shooting attitude.    
   
   
       18 . The electronic camera according to  claim 9 , further comprising 
 an electronic viewfinder which displays a viewfinder image of the image shooting plane according to the image signal, and displays an indication of focusing failure associated with a face area of the viewfinder image when the focusing position is not detected in the specified focus area.