Patent ID: 8180116

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: an imager having a plurality of drive modes including at least a drive mode for a low-resolution image wherein a resolution of image data acquired by the imager is lowered by reducing the number of pixels of the acquired image data, and a drive mode for a high resolution image wherein the resolution of the image data acquired by the imager is not lowered; a face-area detection part that detects a face area where a face is present in image data acquired by image shooting in the drive mode for a low resolution image; a feature value detection area determining part that determines a feature value detection area in the image data acquired by the image shooting in the drive mode for a high-resolution image for detecting a feature value, corresponding to the detected face area, based on information of the detected face area; and a feature value detection part that detects the feature value for specifying an individual from image data within the determined feature value detection area, wherein the image shooting in the drive mode for a low-resolution image and the image shooting in the drive mode for high-resolution image are performed at a same angle of view for a same imaging subject.