To provide an image pickup device which enables a user to easily perform photographing according to his or her technique.

A technical skill level of the user is discriminated on the basis of photographing conditions such as the number of times of release and distinction of automatic/manual or information such as the age and experience years of photographing of the user. On the basis of the discrimination result, an AE program diagram of high-speed shutter priority is selected to hardly cause camera shake in the case that skill level of the user is low, and an AE program diagram of low-speed shutter priority is selected to obtain a high-S/N image in the case that the skill level of the user is high. Information of the technical skill level is updated at each time of photographing, and an AE program diagram corresponding to the technical skill level of the user is selected.