determined as effective after a plurality of data has been obtained in the latter case most probable data a1 b1 is obtained by statistical processing such as averaging or the method of least squares from the plurality of data if the data has already been obtained the flow proceeds from step s02 to s05 to calculate coordinates of the user 39 s visual axis with effective correction data a1 b1 based on the previously described formula 5 then at the next step s06 it is checked which coordinates of the focus detecting area 200 to 204 in the finder are closest to the calculated coordinates of visual axis and a closest focus detecting area is selected at the next step s07 focusing point detection is carried out for the selected focus detecting area to detect an amount of defocus of the focus detecting area also if it is determined at the above step s02 that the individual variation correction data a1 b1 have not been obtained yet the flow proceeds to step s03 to execute focusing point detection for all focus detecting areas 200 to 204 since the focusing point detection at a point by the visual axis is not possible with no effective correction data a1 b1 this operation is carried out for selecting a focus detecting area based on only the focus information at next step s04 a focus detecting area is selected based on the focus information of the all focus detecting areas specifically a focus detecting area may be selected according to the rule.