Patent ID: 8890995

Claim:
An image pickup device, comprising: an image pickup element including a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements located two-dimensionally and forming an image pickup plane, the image pickup element being for exposing the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements and reading an electrical signal from the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements to generate an image signal; a lens optical system including a focus lens for collecting light toward the image pickup element; a driving section for driving one of the image pickup element and the focus lens so as to change a distance between the image pickup element and the focus lens; a displacement control section configured to output an instruction to the driving section to control displacement of the image pickup element or the focus lens which is driven, based on a prescribed displacement pattern; and a synchronization section configured to control the displacement control section based on timing for exposing the image pickup element; wherein, where first and second focus positions of the focus lens or the image pickup element provide focusing at first and second subject distances respectively in an image pickup scene, the displacement pattern includes a first type of displacement pattern by which the focus lens or the image pickup element is displaced in a displacement range between the first focus position and the second focus position, and a second type of displacement pattern by which the focus lens or the image pickup element is displaced in another displacement range between the first focus position and the second focus position, the first type of displacement pattern and the second type of displacement pattern being alternately repeated.