An imaging apparatus has an imaging section that creates video data from an optical image of a subject field; a feature acquiring section that acquires features of a main subject in the subject field; a feature holding section that holds the acquired features; a tracking processing section that performs a predetermined process for tracking the main subject using the created video data and the held features; and a controlling section that validates or invalidates an operation of the feature acquiring section, and the controlling section invalidates the operation of the feature acquiring section when the imaging apparatus satisfies a predetermined condition.