An automatic focusing apparatus of a camera includes a detecting unit, a lens driving unit, an instruction output unit, and a control unit. The detecting unit forms pieces of information concerning focus conditions of a photographic lens with respect to at least three areas in a field. The lens driving unit drives the photographic lens in order to perform focusing. The instruction output unit outputs an instruction for changing the position of the photographic lens. On the basis of the information from the detecting unit, the control unit controls the lens driving unit such that the photographic lens is focused on one of the areas in response to a release operation and the instruction and then sequentially focused on the remaining areas in accordance with a predetermined sequence.