Imaging apparatus and recording medium with program recorded therein

Abstract

An imaging apparatus including a display section, a capturing section which captures an image at a first viewing angle, a capturing control section which performs a plurality of capturing operations by the capturing section, a generation section which generates a composite image reproducing an image captured at a second viewing angle that is wider than the first viewing angle by combining a plurality of images acquired by the plurality of capturing operations by the capturing control section, and a display control section which displays the composite image generated by the generation section on the display section.

1 . An imaging apparatus comprising:
 a display section;   a capturing section which captures an image at a first viewing angle;   a capturing control section which performs a plurality of capturing operations by the capturing section;   a generation section which generates a composite image reproducing an image captured at a second viewing angle that is wider than the first viewing angle by combining a plurality of images acquired by the plurality of capturing operations by the capturing control section; and   a display control section which displays the composite image generated by the generation section on the display section.   
     
     
         2 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a first judgment section which judges whether or not an image capturing direction of a captured image has been significantly changed during the plurality of capturing operations by the capturing control section; and   a first notification section which generates a notification thereof, when the first judgment section judges that the image capturing direction has been significantly changed.   
     
     
         3 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the first notification section displays the notification on the display section, when the first judgment section judges that the image capturing direction has been significantly changed. 
     
     
         4 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the first judging section judges whether or not the image capturing direction has been significantly changed based on changes in center coordinates of images sequentially captured by the plurality of capturing operations by the capturing control section. 
     
     
         5 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the first judgment section judges whether or not the image capturing direction has been significantly changed based on whether or not an area that is the same as that of a preceding captured image among images sequentially captured by the plurality of capturing operations by the image control section, has an area equal to or smaller than a predetermined area. 
     
     
         6 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a second judgment section which judges whether or not an image capturing direction of a captured image is outside of a processing area for image composition by the generation section, during the plurality of capturing operations by the capturing control section; and   a second notification section which, when a judgment is made by the second judgment section that the image capturing direction is outside of the processing area, generates a notification thereof.   
     
     
         7 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the second notification section displays the notification on the display section, when the second judgment section judges that the image capturing direction is outside of the processing area. 
     
     
         8 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the second judgment section judges whether or not the image capturing direction is outside of the processing area based on whether or not an area that is the same as that of a preceding captured image is present among images sequentially captured by the plurality of capturing operations by the capturing control section. 
     
     
         9 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the generation section generates composite images with a second viewing angle that is wider than the first viewing angle by sequentially combining a plurality of images sequentially captured by the plurality of capturing operations by the capturing control section; and
 the display control section displays the composite images with the second viewing angle sequentially generated by the generation section on the display section.   
     
     
         10 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a trimming section which trims a predetermined area centering on a most recently combined image from the composite image generated by the generating section;   wherein the display control section displays an image of the predetermined area centering on the most recently combined image which has been trimmed by the trimming section over the entire screen of the display section.   
     
     
         11 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the display control section further displays on the display section direction information indicating a direction that can be captured by the capturing section. 
     
     
         12 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the display control section displays on the display section positional information indicating a position of an image that has already been captured and a position of an image that has not yet been captured, in order to generate the composite image with the second viewing angle by the generation section. 
     
     
         13 . The imaging apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the capturing control section controls the capturing section to continuously perform the plurality of capturing operations at a predetermined cycle. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a program that is executable by a computer in an imaging apparatus including a capturing section which captures an image at a first viewing angle and a display section, the program being executable by the computer to perform a process comprising:
 capturing control processing for performing a plurality of capturing operations by the capturing section;   generation processing for generating a composite image reproducing an image captured at a second viewing angle that is wider than the first viewing angle by combining a plurality of images acquired by the plurality of capturing operations in the capturing control processing; and   display control processing for displaying on the display section the composite image with the second viewing angle generated in the generation processing.