Patent ID: 8077225

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: an optical zooming unit configured to provide an optical magnification variation; an image sensor including an effective pixel area which has an aspect ratio of 4:3 and configured to convert an optical image into an electronic signal; an electronic zooming unit configured to provide an electronic magnification variation using a signal from the image sensor without enlarging with an interpolating process; a controller configured to control an operation of the electronic zooming unit; and a selector configured to select an aspect ratio of an output image between an aspect ratio of 16:9 and an aspect ratio of 4:3, wherein when the aspect ratio of 16:9 is selected, the controller operates the electronic zooming unit along with an operation of the optical zooming unit in a first area, and wherein when the aspect ratio of 4:3 is selected, the controller operates the electronic zooming unit along with the operation of the optical zooming unit in a second area, wherein the first area is between a first zoom state and a second zoom state that is closer to a telephoto end than the first zoom state, and the second area is between the second zoom state and the third zoom state that is located between the first zoom state and the second zoom state.