Abstract: An imaging device provided with a read circuit in which a light-shielding region is formed in a part of an image region where a plurality of optical/electrical conversion devices is two-dimensionally arrayed in the row and column directions and which converts a optically detected signal outputted from each of the optical/electrical conversion devices for each of the column into a digital signal, comprises a storage device for storing the outputted digital signal outputted in relation with the optical/electrical conversion device in the light-shielding region and a difference calculation device for calculating a difference between the outputted digital signal in relation with the optical/electrical conversion device in a light-receiving region except the light-shielding region and a value stored in the storage device.

Abstract: A 360°-image is formed on the object-side surface (doughnut-shaped) 15 of an optical fiber array 13. The image is applied from the element-side surface 16 of the array, which is substantially rectangular, to an imaging element 11 that is rectangular. The image that has been photographed is converted in accordance with the image signals generated at the object-side surface. Hence, the entire surface of the imaging element 11 can serve as effective photographing region. In addition, the image of the camera, which is formed on the center part of the object-side surface 15, is not transmitted to the imaging element 11.

Abstract: A digital camera for capturing and processing images of different resolutions and a corresponding method for down-scaling a digital image are provided. The method includes forming an image of a real scene on an image sensor that is made up of a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix. The method further includes addressing and reading pixels in the matrix to obtain analog quantities related to the pixels luminance values, converting the analog quantities from the pixels matrix into digital values, and processing the digital values to obtain a data file representing the image of the real scene. To reduce computation time and power consumption, the addressing and reading of the pixels includes selecting a group of pixels from the matrix, and storing the analog quantities related to the pixels of the selected group of pixels into an analog storing circuit. The stored analog quantities are averaged to obtain an analog quantity corresponding to an average pixel luminance value.