The sensor sensitivity and the method of setting the peak selected area of
the AF sensor are changed according to the luminance level of the distance
measurement object. The distance measuring apparatus uses a passive AF
sensor to determine the distance of a distance measuring object by sensor
data obtained from the AF sensor, wherein: if the distance measurement
object has high luminance, the sensor sensitivity is set at low
sensitivity, the distance measurement area is divided into three areas,
and sensor data is acquired for each area as a peak selected area of the
AF sensor; if the distance measurement object has moderate luminance, the
sensor sensitivity is set at low sensitivity, and sensor data is acquired
with the entire area of the distance measurement area being the peak
selected area of the AF sensor; and if the distance measurement object has
low luminance, the sensor sensitivity is set at high sensitivity, and
sensor data is acquired with the entire area of the distance measurement
area being the peak selected area, whereby proper sensor data is acquired
to carry out distance measurement suitably and reliably.
