Patent ID: 7408574

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image sensor for picking up a scene in response to a control signal to thereby output an image signal representative of said scene; a storage for storing a plurality of frames of image signals; a selecting device for allowing an operator of said image pickup apparatus to select a desired one of the plurality of frames of image signals stored in said storage; outputting circuitry for reading the one frame of image signal out of said storage and outputting said one frame of image signal; and a controller operative in response to said selecting device for outputting the control signal to cause said image sensor to pick up the scene at preselected intervals and for controlling said storage; said storage storing latest ones of a plurality of frames of image signals picked up at the preselected intervals while sequentially updating said plurality of latest frames of image signals; said controller causing said storage to hold frames of image signals picked up during a period of time that is based on a release operation; and wherein said controller further executes, when executing a pickup control by controlling said image sensor, control for correcting exposure in a plurality of steps, wherein said storage stores latest ones of the plurality of frames of image signals picked up at the preselected intervals and corrected in exposure in said plurality of steps, while sequentially updating said plurality of latest frames of image signals, and wherein said selecting device allows the operator to select a desired one of image data including image data corrected in exposure in said plurality of steps.