Patent ID: 6952234

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image sensor that picks up an image corresponding to an optical image, and produces a first field image signal having a first exposure and a second field image signal having a second exposure different from the first exposure; a synthesizing circuit that synthesizes the first field image signal and the second field image signal to form a third image signal having a wider exposure range than the first or second field image signal; a switching circuit that selectively outputs one of the first field image signal having the first exposure and the third image signal having the wider exposure range than the first field image signal; a detecting circuit that detects an amount of motion information between the first field image signal and the second field image signal to produce a detection signal in comparison with a predetermined threshold level; and a control circuit that controls said switching circuit to select one of the first field image signal having the first exposure and the third image signal having the wider exposure range than the first field image signal in response to a result of said detecting circuit.