IMAGING APPARATUS, AND WHITE BALANCE PROCESSOR

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for suppressing deviation in white balance even for an image such that the rate of a dark area is larger than the rate of a light area like a night scene image. SOLUTION: A white balance gain calculating unit 46 calculates a white balance gain for an image based upon color differences of pixel areas whose at least luminance level is equal to or larger than a reference luminance level among all pixel areas of the image. A correction coefficient calculating unit 50 finds a correction coefficient based upon at least one of imaging sensitivity corresponding to the image, the rate of the dark part area, and whether flash light is emitted when the ratio of the dark part pixel areas whose luminance and color difference meet predetermined conditions to all the pixel areas of the image is equal to or larger than a reference ratio, and instructs the white balance gain calculating unit 46 to correct the white balance gain based upon the correction coefficient. COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT