To provide an imaging device easily obtaining an optimum photographing result under various conditions on the basis of the recognized result of an object.

The imaging device comprises: a photographing unit for photographing the image of a field through a photographing optical system; an area sensor for photoelectrically converting a luminous flux from the field and acquiring field data; a memory for holding template information based on the image of a recognition object; a pattern recognition part for comparing the field data with the template information and judging whether the recognition object is present in the field; and a control part for controlling the photographing operation of the photographing unit on the basis of the judged result.