Imaging apparatus, imaging processing method, and imaging control program

1. An imaging apparatus comprising:

an imaging device outputting, during a unit period of time, a long-exposure-time image signal having a long-exposure-time period being a relatively long exposure time and a short-exposure-time image signal having a short-exposure-time period being a relatively short exposure time;

first clipping processing means for clipping a part not lower than a first signal level of a luminance signal obtained from the long-exposure-time image signal;

second clipping processing means for clipping a part not higher than a second signal level of a luminance signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal and for clipping a part not lower than a third signal level of the luminance signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal; and

signal processing means for generating a synthesized image signal having a dynamic range wider than both of dynamic ranges of the long-exposure-time image signal and the short-exposure-time image signal by synthesizing the long-exposure-time image signal having been subjected to the clipping processing by the first clipping processing means and the short-exposure-time image signal having been subjected to the clipping processing by the second clipping processing means,

wherein the second signal level is not lower than a signal level obtained by dividing the first signal level by a ratio in time of the long exposure time to the short exposure time.

2. The imaging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

color-signal processing means for obtaining a synthesized color signal by synthesizing a color signal obtained from the long-exposure-time image signal and a color signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal,

wherein the color-signal processing means does not use the short-exposure-time image signal having a signal level not higher than a clipping level of a short-exposure-time luminance signal by the second clipping processing means.

3. A method of controlling imaging, comprising:

controlling an imaging device so that the imaging device outputs, during a unit period of time, a long-exposure-time image signal having a long-exposure-time period being a relatively long exposure time and a short-exposure-time image signal having a short-exposure-time period being a relatively short exposure time;

clipping a part not lower than a first signal level of a luminance signal obtained from the long-exposure-time image signal;

clipping a part not higher than a second signal level of a luminance signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal;

clipping a part not lower than a third signal level of the luminance signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal; and

synthesizing the clipped long-exposure-time image signal and the clipped short-exposure-time image signal so that a synthesized image signal having a dynamic range wider than both of dynamic ranges of the long-exposure-time image signal and the short-exposure-time image signal is generated,

wherein the second signal level is not lower than a signal level obtained by dividing the first signal level by a ratio in time of the long exposure time to the short exposure time.

4. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing an imaging control program, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method of controlling imaging, the method comprising:

controlling an imaging device so that the imaging device outputs, during a unit period of time, a long-exposure-time image signal having a long-exposure-time period being a relatively long exposure time and a short-exposure-time image signal having a short-exposure-time period being a relatively short exposure time;

clipping a part not lower than a first signal level of a luminance signal obtained from the long-exposure-time image signal;

clipping a part not higher than a second signal level of a luminance signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal;

clipping a part not lower than a third signal level of the luminance signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal; and

synthesizing the clipped long-exposure-time image signal and the clipped short-exposure-time image signal so that a synthesized image signal having a dynamic range wider than both of dynamic ranges of the long-exposure-time image signal and the short-exposure-time image signal is generated,

wherein the second signal level is not lower than a signal level obtained by dividing the first signal level by a ratio in time of the long exposure time to the short exposure time.

5. An imaging apparatus comprising:

an imaging device outputting, during a unit period of time, a long-exposure-time image signal having a long-exposure-time period being a relatively long exposure time and a short-exposure-time image signal having a short-exposure-time period being a relatively short exposure time;

a first clipping processing mechanism clipping a part not lower than a first signal level of a luminance signal obtained from the long-exposure-time image signal;

a second clipping processing mechanism clipping a part not higher than a second signal level of a luminance signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal and clipping a part not lower than a third signal level of the luminance signal obtained from the short-exposure-time image signal; and

a signal processing mechanism generating a synthesized image signal having a dynamic range wider than both of dynamic ranges of the long-exposure-time image signal and the short-exposure-time image signal by synthesizing the long-exposure-time image signal having been subjected to clipping processing by the first clipping processing mechanism and the short-exposure-time image signal having been subjected to clipping processing by the second clipping processing mechanism,

wherein the second signal level is not lower than a signal level obtained by dividing the first signal level by a ratio in time of the long exposure time to the short exposure time.