Patent ID: 7110185

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: a multifocal optical system in which at least a first focal length on a short focal length side and a second focal length on a long focal length side is optically selected; an image pickup device for converting an optical image formed by said multifocal optical system into an image signal; an image processor which processes said image signal output from said image pickup device, and forms an original image which is defined by an object image of an angle-of-view corresponding to said first and second focal lengths of said multifocal optical system; a trimming device for trimming said original image formed by said image processor to form trimmed images of angle-of-views smaller than first and second angle-of-views which correspond to said first and second focal lengths, respectively; a drive controller for switching the optical focal length of said multifocal optical system when the set angle-of-view of said trimming device changes between said second angle-of-view and a third angle-of-view which is smaller than said second angle-of-view; and a memory for storing an original image formed by said image processor at a focal length before said optical focal length is switched by said drive controller, wherein said trimming device forms trimmed images corresponding to set angle-of-views, using the original image stored in said memory, while the optical focal length of said multifocal optical system is switched.