Patent ID: 8131143

Claim:
A focus control circuit for an image pickup apparatus including: a lens; an image pickup device configured to convert light transmitted through said lens into an electric signal; a driver element for adjusting the position of the lens; a position detecting element for detecting the position of the lens; and an image signal processor configured to process an image signal output from the image pickup device, the focus control circuit including: an equalizer configured to generate a drive signal used to adjust the position of the lens identified by an output signal of the position detecting element to a position to be set, based on a difference between the identified position of the lens and the set position, and configured to control the driver element; and a position setting unit configured to sequentially set a plurality of positions of the lens in a range covering a new target position and a previous target position, to said equalizer before the lens reaches the new target position from the previous target position, when an instruction to vary a target position of the lens is received from the image signal processor, wherein the position setting unit is configured as a hardware circuit.