Patent ID: 7301563

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: image pickup means capable of taking images of the same object at a plurality of different exposure amounts to generate image signals corresponding to a plurality of frames of different exposure amounts; and means for generating wide dynamic range, synthesized image by synthesizing the image signals corresponding to the plurality of frames of different exposure amounts obtained by the image pickup means, said image pickup apparatus further comprising: means for determining whether or not a suitable synthesized image can be obtained on the basis of image signals corresponding to a plurality of previously taken frames; and means for controlling ON/OFF switching of the generation processing operation at said means for generating synthesized image on basis of an output of the determination means; wherein said determination means includes means for detecting a moving portion in an object image and motion amount determination means for determining whether or not the amount of motion of said moving portion detected by the motion detection means is smaller than a maximum allowable amount for correction; and said means for generating synthesized image includes motion correction means for, when the amount of motion is determined as smaller than the maximum allowable amount for correction by the motion amount determination means, correcting only the amount of motion of said moving portion on the basis of such determination output, synthesizing process being performed with correcting the amount of motion of said moving portion of said image signals corresponding to the plurality of frames.