Patent ID: 8223212

Claim:
A hand movement correction apparatus for correcting hand movement in an image pickup apparatus, comprising: a position variation signal acquisition section that acquires a position variation signal representing the movement of the image pickup apparatus; a first integral processing section that calculates a first position variation signal by integrating the position variation signal acquired by the position variation signal acquisition section; a second integral processing section that calculates a second position variation signal by integrating the position variation signal acquired by the position variation signal acquisition section; a gain controller that controls the first position variation signal according to a predetermined time constant in order that a variation amount of the controlled first position variation signal falls within a range defined by an upper limit and a lower limit in case a variation amount of the calculated first position variation signal reaches the upper limit value or the lower limit value; an exposure determination section that determines whether exposure operation is in progress in the image pickup apparatus; a position variation signal outputting section that outputs the controlled first position variation signal in the case where it is determined by the exposure determination section that the exposure operation is not in progress in the image pickup apparatus, and outputs the second position variation signal in the case where it is determined by the exposure determination section that the exposure operation is in progress in the image pickup apparatus; and a hand movement amount calculation section that calculates a hand movement correction amount based on one of the controlled first position variation signal and the second position variation outputted from the position variation signal outputting section.