Patent ID: 8411181

Claim:
An image pick-up apparatus comprising: an image pick-up element for picking up an image, an exposure amount to the image pick-up element being controlled by an electronic shutter operation; a driving signal generating unit for generating an electronic shutter pulse signal for driving the image pick-up element; a controlling unit for controlling the driving signal generating unit; and a judging unit for judging brightness of an object to be shot; wherein the controlling unit controls the driving signal generating unit such that a first operation mode is set when the judging unit determines that the brightness of the object is not lower than a first threshold level and a second operation mode is set when the judging unit determines that the brightness of the object is lower than the first threshold level; and wherein in the first operation mode, a period for reading charge of one line from the image pick-up element is in synchronism with a generation period of the electronic shutter pulse signal and in the second operation mode, the electronic shutter pulse signal is generated once every time plural periods have come each for reading charge of one line from the image pick-up element.