To provide a camera drive unit capable of shortening a preset operation time while reducing a feeling of incompatibility to a movement of a subject in preset operation.

A drive unit is operable in a preset mode in which a photographic optical system is simultaneously zoomed, and driven to rotate, and when the present mode is set, rotary driving is controlled at a speed corresponding to a rate of variation in a photographic view angle per unit time due to zooming of a photographic optical system and the photographic view angle on condition that a rotary driving amount of the photographic optical system in the preset mode is smaller than a threshold based upon the photographic view angle, or at a constant speed without reference to the rate of variation in photographic view angle per unit time due to the zooming of the photographic optical system and the photographic view angle on condition that the rotary driving amount is larger than the threshold.