An appearance inspection apparatus having conveying means for conveying an inspection object on a predetermined conveying surface and surface shape inspecting means for inspecting the surface shape of the inspection object being conveyed by the conveying means, characterized in that the surface shape inspecting means comprises: a slit beam irradiating section (23, 24, 25) disposed in the vicinity of the conveying means for irradiating a band-shaped slit beam (L 1) on the surface of the inspection object in such a manner that the slit beam is radiated vertically to the conveying surface and the irradiation line of the slit beam is orthogonal to a conveyance direction for conveying the inspection object; an area sensor camera for capturing images of the slit beam irradiated on the surface of the inspection object; a first optical mechanism which has an optical path for receiving a reflected light (L 2) of the slit beam irradiated on the surface of the inspection object on the downstream side in the conveyance direction for conveying the inspection object, and guiding the reflected light to the area sensor camera; a second optical mechanism which has an optical path for receiving a reflected light (L 3) of the slit beam on the upstream side in the conveyance direction and guiding the reflected light to the area sensor camera; and a shape judging section for recognizing shape features of the surface of the inspection object on the basis of the images captured by the area sensor camera and judging appropriateness of the shape of the surface of the inspection object, and the optical paths of the first and second optical mechanisms (30, 40) are for forming images of the reflected lights on an image forming portion of the area sensor camera in a state where they are aligned laterally in a raster direction. a slit beam irradiating section (23, 24, 25) disposed in the vicinity of the conveying means for irradiating a band-shaped slit beam (L 1) on the surface of the inspection object in such a manner that the slit beam is radiated vertically to the conveying surface and the irradiation line of the slit beam is orthogonal to a conveyance direction for conveying the inspection object; an area sensor camera for capturing images of the slit beam irradiated on the surface of the inspection object; a first optical mechanism which has an optical path for receiving a reflected light (L 2) of the slit beam irradiated on the surface of the inspection object on the downstream side in the conveyance direction for conveying the inspection object, and guiding the reflected light to the area sensor camera; a second optical mechanism which has an optical path for receiving a reflected light (L 3) of the slit beam on the upstream side in the conveyance direction and guiding the reflected light to the area sensor camera; and a shape judging section for recognizing shape features of the surface of the inspection object on the basis of the images captured by the area sensor camera and judging appropriateness of the shape of the surface of the inspection object, and the optical paths of the first and second optical mechanisms (30, 40) are for forming images of the reflected lights on an image forming portion of the area sensor camera in a state where they are aligned laterally in a raster direction.