Patent ID: 8638374

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus that performs an image pickup operation that can synthesize image data of a wide dynamic range by alternately repeating a long exposure and a short exposure, comprising: an image pickup device in which a plurality of pixels are arranged; and a timing control portion that drives the image pickup device in a first driving mode that makes a first time interval between an exposure end time of a pixel in a short exposure and an exposure start time of the pixel in a long exposure immediately thereafter and a second time interval between an exposure end time of the pixel in the long exposure and an exposure start time of the pixel in a short exposure immediately thereafter equally a time interval e, wherein: the timing control portion drives the image pickup device so as to perform the short exposure and the long exposure one time each in two consecutive vertical synchronization periods that are defined by three consecutive vertical synchronization signals; and the time interval e is expressed by e =( a−b−c )/2 where, a represents a total period of two consecutive vertical synchronization periods, b represents an exposure time of the short exposure, and c represents the exposure time of the long exposure.