Patent ID: 8773576

Claim:
An image pickup system comprising: an image pickup apparatus including an image pickup optical system including a focus lens unit and a measuring unit for measuring a distance to an object or a focus state of the image pickup optical system with respect to the object; a camera platform apparatus which drives the image pickup optical system to pan and tilt; and a controller that stores a panning position and a tilting position of the image pickup optical system as preset positions, and controls the camera platform apparatus to drive the image pickup optical system to the preset positions, wherein upon input of a drive command for the camera platform apparatus to drive the image pickup optical system to the preset positions, the controller starts measurement by the measuring unit with respect to an object in an optical direction of the image pickup optical system at the preset positions after the input of the drive command for the camera platform apparatus to drive the image pickup optical system to the preset positions and before completion of the driving of the image pickup optical system to the preset position.