Patent ID: 7728867

Claim:
An electronic endoscope system, comprising: a video-scope; an imaging device that is provided on said video-scope, and that is exposed at a normal shutter speed so as to generate an image signal corresponding to an optical image that is formed on the imaging device an illumination apparatus that illuminates a light from said video-scope onto an object, wherein said imaging device is exposed at said normal shutter speed so as to generate said image signal while said light is illuminated by said illumination apparatus, and said optical image is formed from said light reflected from the object, and a black balance processor that generates a black balance value for adjusting the black balance of said image signal based on a black image signal corresponding to a black image, said black image signal being generated by exposing said imaging device at a high shutter speed that is faster than said normal shutter speed, wherein said imaging device is exposed at said high shutter speed so as to generate said black image signal while said light is not illuminated by said illuminating apparatus.