Patent ID: 8675114

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image pickup lens; an image pickup device configured to receive light from the image pickup lens and generate image pickup data based on the received light; an image processing section configured to selectively perform light field photography image processing on the image pickup data; a microlens array section including a plurality of microlenses and arranged on an optical axis between the image pickup lens and the image pickup device; a driving section configured to change a relative distance between the microlens array section and the image pickup device based on a control signal, a control section configured to control the image processing section and the driving section, wherein the image pickup apparatus is configured to selectively operate in at least a first image pickup mode and a second image pickup mode, wherein, when the image pickup apparatus is operating in the second image pickup mode, the control section causes the driving section to make the relative distance substantially the same as the focal length of the microlens array section and causes the image processing section to perform the light field photography image processing on the image pickup data, wherein, when the image pickup apparatus is operating in the first image pickup mode, the control section causes the driving section to make the relative distance smaller than the focal length of the microlens array section and causes the image processing section to not perform the light field photography image processing on the image pickup data, wherein each of the plurality of microlenses have a first side with a first curvature and a second side with a second curvature that is smaller than the first curvature, and wherein each of the plurality of microlenses are arranged such that their first side is disposed closer to the image pickup device than their second side.