Patent ID: 6958778

Claim:
An iris control apparatus of a television camera comprising: a solid state image pickup device for outputting on a time division basis a long-time exposure video signal obtained from light beams exposing an object for a long time and a short-time exposure video signal obtained from said light beams exposing said object for a short time; a division unit for dividing an image screen displayed by said long-time exposure video signal into a plurality of predetermined areas; a detection unit for detecting a first and a second area, each of which has a different luminance level of said long-time exposure video signal; a weighting unit for applying different weighting to said long-time exposure video signals of said first and second areas, respectively; and a control unit for controlling an iris of a lens, through which said light beams are applied to said solid state image pickup device, in response to said weighted long-time exposure video signal.