An appearance inspection apparatus comprising: an image capture unit configured to capture a picture from a TV camera as a digital image before and after the TV camera makes a relative scanning motion finer than pixels of the TV camera such that the TV camera moves relative to an inspection object ; a camera motion measuring unit that is configured to measure the relative scanning motion of the TV camera in the images with precisions of sub-pixels smaller than a single pixel; a high definition image generating unit configured to generate a high definition image having a pixel resolution higher than that of the TV camera based on a plurality of the digital images captured by the image capture unit and scanning motion data on the TV camera measured by the camera motion measuring unit ; and a recording unit that is configured to record and store position information of the inspection object , wherein the TV camera is configured to shoot the inspection object , characterized in that : the apparatus further comprises either: a driving device that is configured to drive the TV camera so that the TV camera makes the relative scanning motion, or a hanging tool for hanging the TV camera for an inspector to manipulate the TV camera to make the relative scanning motion, and the image capture unit includes an image selection unit that is configured to evaluate change of brightness of a captured image of the picture from the TV camera over time and to determine to output the captured image of the picture from the TV camera to the high definition image generating unit only when the evaluated change of brightness is not sharp. an image capture unit configured to capture a picture from a TV camera as a digital image before and after the TV camera makes a relative scanning motion finer than pixels of the TV camera such that the TV camera moves relative to an inspection object ; a camera motion measuring unit that is configured to measure the relative scanning motion of the TV camera in the images with precisions of sub-pixels smaller than a single pixel; a high definition image generating unit configured to generate a high definition image having a pixel resolution higher than that of the TV camera based on a plurality of the digital images captured by the image capture unit and scanning motion data on the TV camera measured by the camera motion measuring unit ; and a recording unit that is configured to record and store position information of the inspection object , wherein the TV camera is configured to shoot the inspection object , characterized in that : the apparatus further comprises either: a driving device that is configured to drive the TV camera so that the TV camera makes the relative scanning motion, or a hanging tool for hanging the TV camera for an inspector to manipulate the TV camera to make the relative scanning motion, and the image capture unit includes an image selection unit that is configured to evaluate change of brightness of a captured image of the picture from the TV camera over time and to determine to output the captured image of the picture from the TV camera to the high definition image generating unit only when the evaluated change of brightness is not sharp. a driving device that is configured to drive the TV camera so that the TV camera makes the relative scanning motion, or a hanging tool for hanging the TV camera for an inspector to manipulate the TV camera to make the relative scanning motion, and the image capture unit includes an image selection unit that is configured to evaluate change of brightness of a captured image of the picture from the TV camera over time and to determine to output the captured image of the picture from the TV camera to the high definition image generating unit only when the evaluated change of brightness is not sharp. <EOS>