Image pickup apparatus capable of selectively picking up a color image and a black-and-white image

摘要

Provided is an image pickup apparatus comprising: a light control mirror element (ace CME) having a function of splitting an incident light flux (LF) into a first LF from reflection and a second LF from transmission and a function of switching between a semi-transmissive/semi-reflective state (s-t/s-rS) and a totally reflective state (TRS); a LF splitting unit causes first and second LFs to be emitted from first and second exit surfaces (ES), respectively; an electrochromic element (EE) switches between a state of transmitting light having a first wavelength range (WR) out of first LF (first state) and a state of transmitting light having a second WR out of first LF (second state); and a control device conducts switching control between a first mode in which LCME is in s-t/s-rS and EE is in first state and a second mode in which LCME is in TRS and EE is in second state.

主权项

1. An image pickup apparatus, comprising:
a light control mirror element having a function of splitting an incident light flux into a first light flux derived from reflection and a second light flux derived from transmission and a function of switching between a semi-transmissive/semi-reflective state and a totally reflective state; a light flux splitting unit configured to cause the first light flux to be emitted from a first exit surface, and cause the second light flux to be emitted from a second exit surface; an electrochromic element configured to switch between a state of transmitting light having a first wavelength range out of the first light flux and a state of transmitting light having a second wavelength range out of the first light flux; a first image pickup element configured to pick up an image of the first light flux emitted from the first exit surface; a second image pickup element configured to pick up an image of the second light flux emitted from the second exit surface; and a control device configured to conduct switching control between a first mode in which the light control mirror element is in the semi-transmissive/semi-reflective state and the electrochromic element is in the state of transmitting the light having the first wavelength range and a second mode in which the light control mirror element is in the totally reflective state and the electrochromic element is in the state of transmitting the light having the second wavelength range.