Patent ID: 7808527

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus for picking up moving pictures, the image pickup apparatus comprising: at least one beam splitter for splitting light incoming through an optical lens into a first number of beams, the at least one beam splitter reflecting a portion of the light to produce at least one of the first number of beams; a second number of image pickup elements for receiving the first number of beams and converting the first number of beams into signals, at time intervals of 1/m seconds, to pick up images where m is a first frame rate, wherein each of the second number of image pickup elements receives a respective beam of the first number of beams, the first number and the second number being equivalent, and converts the respective beam into a signal, wherein the light reaches the second number of pickup elements through light paths of equal length through the at least one beam splitter; and a control section for controlling timings at which the light is to be converted into the signals by said image pickup elements; wherein said control section controls said second number of image pickup elements to convert the light into the signals at timings successively displaced by 1/m×n seconds, n being a number equal to the first number and the second number, wherein m and n are integer numbers.