Patent ID: 7800663

Claim:
An image pickup method for a solid-state image pickup device having an image pickup charge coupled device, a first obtaining unit for obtaining image signals which are outputted from effective pixels of a photosensitive surface of said e image pickup charge coupled device, and a second obtaining unit for obtaining signals which are outputted from light-shielded pixels in an upper portion or a lower portion of the photosensitive surface of said image pickup charge coupled device, comprising the steps of: calculating at least one of represent-value signals which are calculated from (i) a mean value of a plurality of vertical pixel signals, which exclude signals having a first maximum value to (M−1)th maximum value, of the obtained signals which are outputted from the light-shielded pixels and obtained by said second obtaining unit, (ii) a mean value of a plurality of vertical signals, which exclude signals having a first maximum value to (M−1)th maximum value and signals having a first minimum value to (N−1)the minimum value, of the obtained signals, and (iii) a M-th maximum value of the obtained signals, wherein M is a natural number and equal to or larger than 3 and N is a natural number and equal to or larger than 2; and generating a vertical smear correction signal by subtracting said represent-value signal from the image signals which are outputted from the effective pixels and obtained by said first obtaining unit.