Patent attributes
An image pickup apparatus comprises an image pickup element that includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements, and is operable in a first drive mode for reading a low resolution image based on an output of the photoelectric conversion elements or a second drive mode for reading a higher resolution image than the low resolution image, a drive unit that drives the image pickup element, a frame memory that stores image data read by the image pickup element in the first drive mode, an image enlarging portion that enlarges an image size of the image data stored in the frame memory, and a noise reduction unit that performs noise reduction on image data read by the image pickup element in the second drive mode, based on the image data enlarged by the image enlarging portion. This configuration enables high frame rate moving images to be obtained. Further, degradation of image resolution can be prevented, and random noise contained in images can be suppressed.
