Image pickup devices having an image quality control function and methods of controlling an image quality in image pickup devices

摘要

An image pickup device including an image pickup unit for converting an optical image of a subject to an image signal, a signal processor for producing a video signal from the image signal, an ambience determining unit for determining image pickup ambience of the subject, and a control unit for controlling image quality of the video signal output from said signal processor in accordance with a result of the determination of the ambience determining unit. The image quality control unit includes at least one of a white balance control unit, an exposure control unit, and a configuration correction/chroma signal gain control unit. The control characteristic of the image quality control unit is changed depending on the result of the determination of the ambience determining unit.