BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

A technique of the present disclosure relates to an image capturing apparatus, a control method for an image capturing apparatus, and a control program for an image capturing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

For an image capturing apparatus in which image capturing of a photographic subject is performed by an imaging device through an image capturing optical system, as a technique for controlling the amount of exposure of the imaging device, a technique using a digital ND (neutral density) filter is disclosed in, for example, JP2015-136087A, JP2004-56331A, and JP2003-322878A. With the digital ND filter, an effect equivalent to that attained by providing a physical ND filter for the image capturing optical system can be attained.

As a technique for capturing an image of a photographic subject by using an image capturing apparatus, a technique called long exposure is available in which control for making the exposure time longer than usual is performed to thereby capture an image of a photographic subject in motion, such as, for example, a river or a waterfall in motion, including trails thereof. In JP2015-136087A, JP2004-56331A, and JP2003-322878A mentioned above, a technique for controlling the exposure time is disclosed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, in a case where a photographic subject in motion for which the user wants to capture an image including trails thereof or the like and a photographic subject in motion for which the user wants to capture an image without trails thereof, that is, the user does not want the photographic subject to be blurred, are mixed in one captured image, in a case where long exposure is performed, the photographic subject that the user does not want to be blurred may be blurred, and an expression desired by the user might not be achieved.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an image capturing apparatus, a control method for an image capturing apparatus, and a control program for an image capturing apparatus with which an expression desired by users can be achieved.

To achieve the above-described object, an image capturing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present disclosure includes: an image capturing unit that includes an imaging device in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a two-dimensional array and that outputs an image signal obtained by image capturing of a photographic subject by the imaging device through an image capturing optical system; an image generation unit that generates a captured image based on the image signal; an amount-of-light control unit that controls an amount of light incident on the imaging device per unit time; a first control unit that controls an exposure time of the pixels to control an amount of exposure of the pixels for each of a plurality of division regions obtained by dividing the captured image; a second control unit that controls the amount-of-light control unit to perform control for adjusting a difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions for each of which the amount of exposure is controlled by the first control unit; and a display unit that displays the captured image obtained with the amount of exposure controlled by the second control unit.

An image capturing apparatus according to a second aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to the first aspect in which the second control unit may perform control to make the difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions be within a predetermined range.

An image capturing apparatus according to a third aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to the second aspect and may further include: a determination unit that determines an amount of exposure of the entire imaging device; and a third control unit that performs control for adjusting the amount of exposure of each of the plurality of division regions for each of which the amount of exposure is controlled by the second control unit to the amount of exposure determined by the determination unit, in which the display unit may display the captured image obtained with the amount of exposure controlled by the third control unit.

An image capturing apparatus according to a fourth aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to the first aspect and may further include a determination unit that determines an amount of exposure of the entire imaging device, in which the second control unit may set the amount of exposure of each of the plurality of division regions to the amount of exposure determined by the determination unit to adjust the difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions.

An image capturing apparatus according to a fifth aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects in which the second control unit may perform control for adjusting the difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions with reference to the amount of exposure controlled by the first control unit for a division region that satisfies a predetermined condition among the plurality of division regions.

An image capturing apparatus according to a sixth aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to the fifth aspect in which the second control unit may use, as the predetermined condition, a condition that the exposure time is shortest.

An image capturing apparatus according to a seventh aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to any one of the first to sixth aspects in which the first control unit may divide the captured image into the plurality of division regions along a boundary line derived from the captured image on the basis of a result of analysis of the captured image.

An image capturing apparatus according to an eighth aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to the seventh aspect in which in a case where a change occurs in the captured image, the first control unit may adjust a position of the boundary line on the basis of the change in the captured image.

An image capturing apparatus according to a ninth aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to any one of the first to eighth aspects and may further include an accepting unit that accepts an exposure time for each of the plurality of division regions, in which the first control unit may perform control in accordance with the exposure time accepted by the accepting unit.

An image capturing apparatus according to a tenth aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to any one of the first to sixth aspects and may further include: a dividing unit that identifies, for each region of the captured image, for each photographic subject included in the captured image, or for each pixel corresponding to the captured image, a corresponding type of object on the basis of a recognition result of recognizing the captured image, and divides the captured image into the plurality of division regions on the basis of a result of identification; and an exposure time determination unit that determines an exposure time for each of the plurality of division regions on the basis of predetermined correspondences between types of objects and exposure times, in which the first control unit may perform control in accordance with the exposure time determined by the exposure time determination unit.

An image capturing apparatus according to an eleventh aspect is the image capturing apparatus according to any one of the first to tenth aspects in which the first control unit may control the exposure time of the pixels for each row of the array of the plurality of pixels.

A control method for an image capturing apparatus according to a twelfth aspect includes a process including: generating a captured image based on an image signal obtained by image capturing of a photographic subject by an imaging device, in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a two-dimensional array, through an image capturing optical system; performing first control for controlling an exposure time of the pixels to control an amount of exposure of the pixels for each of a plurality of division regions obtained by dividing the captured image; performing second control for controlling an amount-of-light control unit that controls an amount of light incident on the imaging device per unit time to perform control for adjusting a difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions for each of which the amount of exposure is controlled by the first control; and displaying the captured image obtained with the amount of exposure controlled by the second control.

A control program for an image capturing apparatus according to a thirteenth aspect causes a computer to perform a process including: generating a captured image based on an image signal obtained by image capturing of a photographic subject by an imaging device, in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a two-dimensional array, through an image capturing optical system; performing first control for controlling an exposure time of the pixels to control an amount of exposure of the pixels for each of a plurality of division regions obtained by dividing the captured image; performing second control for controlling an amount-of-light control unit that controls an amount of light incident on the imaging device per unit time to perform control for adjusting a difference in amount of exposure between the plurality of division regions for each of which the amount of exposure is controlled by the first control; and displaying the captured image obtained with the amount of exposure controlled by the second control.

According to the present disclosure, an expression desired by users can be achieved.

