Electronic photographing apparatus and electronic photographing apparatus system

1. An electronic photographing apparatus comprising:

a photographing optical system which photographs an object;

a data processing section which converts an optical image of the object photographed by the photographing optical system into digital image data, and records the converted image data therein;

a display section which displays the image data obtained by the data processing section;

a specification section which specifies a plurality of selected, non-contiguous regions in an image displayed at the display section for joined processing of autofocusing;

an external operating member capable of externally operating a state of the electronic photographing apparatus; and

a control section which controls an operation concerning photographing by th electronic photographing apparatus based on information specified by the specification section including the plurality of selected, non-contiguous regions jointly processed in an operation made by the external operating member; the control section making the display section display so as to distinguish a region which can be appropriately processed and a region which cannot be appropriately processed out of the non-contiguous regions specified by the specification section, and

the control section being capable of releasing a region selected by the specification section when the selected region cannot be appropriately processed with the non-contiguous regions specified by the specification section.

2. The electronic photographing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said display section is a display member that is independent of said electronic photographing apparatus.

3. The electronic photographing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic photographing apparatus is disposed in the personal computer.

4. The electronic photographing apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising:

a photographing optical system operating section capable of changing an orientation of the photographing optical system.

5. The electronic photographing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operation concerning photographing is a distance measuring operation for measuring a distance to the plurality of regions specified by the specification section.

6. An electronic photographing apparatus system comprising an electronic photographing apparatus for converting an optical image of a photographed object in digital image data and a personal computer, comprising:

a display module disposed in the personal computer, which displays the image data;

a specification module which specifies a plurality of selected, non-contiguous regions in the optical image displayed at the display module for joined processing of autofocusing;

a distance measuring module disposed in the electronic photographing apparatus, which measures a distance relevant to any of the selected, non-contiguous regions; and

a control module which controls the distance measuring module to execute a distance measuring operation relevant to any of the selected, non-contiguous regions specified by the specification module, the control module making the display module display module display so as to distinguish a focusable region and an unfocusable region out of the non-contiguous regions specified by the specification module, and

the control module being capable of releasing a region selected by the specification section when the selected region cannot be appropriately processed with the non-contiguous regions specified by the specification section.

7. An electronic photographing apparatus system according to claim 6 , wherein the electronic photographing apparatus is disposed in the personal computer.

8. An electronic photographing apparatus system according to claim 7 , wherein the electronic photographing apparatus comprises:

a digital photographing optical system which photographs an object, thereby obtaining image data; and

a photographing optical system operating section capable of changing an orientation of the photographing optical system.

9. An electronic photographing apparatus system comprising an electronic photographing apparatus and a personal computer, comprising:

a display device disposed in the personal computer, for displaying an image photographed by the electronic photographing apparatus;

a pointing device disposed in the personal computer or connected thereto;

a distance measuring device disposed in the electronic photographing apparatus; and

a control device disposed in the electronic photographing apparatus, the display device displaying so as to distinguish a focusable region and an unfocusable region out of the non-contiguous regions specified by the specification device, and

the control device being capable of releasing a region selected by the specification section when the selected region cannot be appropriately processed with the non-contiguous regions specified by the specification section, the control device controlling the distance measuring device to be actuated so as to focus an average distance of a plurality of images when the plurality of images are specified from among the images on the display device by the pointing device for joint processing of autofocusing.

10. An electronic photographing apparatus system according to claim 9 , wherein the electronic photographing apparatus is disposed in the personal computer.

11. An electronic photographing apparatus system according to claim 9 , wherein the electronic photographing apparatus comprises: a digital photographing optical system for photographing an object, thereby obtaining image data; and a photographing optical system operating section capable of changing an orientation of the photographing optical system.

12. A method for measuring a distance of an electronic photographing apparatus system that is composed of an electronic photographing apparatus for converting an optical image of the photographed object into digital image data and a personal computer, comprising:

photographing an object by the electronic photographing apparatus;

displaying the object image at a display module disposed in the personal computer;

specifying a plurality of images from among the images displayed at the display module for joint processing;

displaying so as to distinguish a focusable region and an unfocusable region out of the non-contiguous regions specified, enabling an operation releasing a specified region when there is an unfocusable region among the specified non-contiguous regions, and causing a distance measuring module disposed in the electronic display module to execute a distance measuring operation relevant to the specified plurality of images for joint autofocusing.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:

determining a plurality of focusing lens drive values based on the distance measuring operation.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

comparing each of the plurality of focusing lens drive values; and

computing a difference between each of the plurality of focusing lens drive values.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

displaying a message if the step of computing determines that the difference is equal or greater than a specified arbitrary threshold value.