Patent ID: 8098291

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus which performs processing on moving-image data in accordance with an image pickup signal output from an image pickup element in parallel to processing performed on still-image data in accordance with the image pickup signal, the image pickup apparatus comprising: an image pickup unit configured to convert a ray into an electric signal by means of photoelectric conversion and output a resultant image pickup signal; a buffer unit configured to temporarily store the image pickup signal output from the image pickup unit; a buffer controller configured to control reading of data from the buffer unit; a first signal processing unit configured to output a first transmission request, perform processing on the image pickup signal read from the buffer unit every frame timing in response to the first transmission request, and output moving-image data; and a second signal processing unit configured to output a second transmission request, perform processing on the image pickup signal read from the buffer unit in response to the second transmission request at a predetermined timing, and output still-image data, wherein the buffer controller determines whether it is possible that the image pickup signal is read from the buffer unit without deteriorating continuity on the basis of a data storage state of the buffer unit, the first transmission request, and the second transmission request.