Patent ID: 7830441

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus having a guidance display unit, comprising: a) an identification unit configured to identify external appliances connected to said image pickup apparatus; b) a determining unit configured to determine whether each of the external appliances is of a second class of appliances different from a first class of appliances as well as whether each of the external appliances is of the first class, on the basis of an identification result of the identification unit; and c) a display control unit configured to control display of guidance information in accordance with a result of the determination by the determining unit so as to display first guidance information stored in advance in a storing unit as guidance information to be displayed for a user proficient in operating the image pickup apparatus when an operation member of the image pickup apparatus is operated in a specific operating manner, if the determining unit determines that the external appliance is of the first class, and to display second guidance information different from the first guidance information, stored in advance in the storing unit as guidance information to be displayed for the user not proficient in operating the image pickup apparatus when the operation member of the image pickup apparatus is operated in the same specific operating manner, if the determining unit determines that the external appliance is of the second class, wherein the first and second guidance information, each of which is displayed when the operation member of the image pickup apparatus is operated in the same specific operating manner, are provided in such a manner that the number of words included in the first guidance information is less than that in the second guidance information.