To provide an image pickup device in which a signal charge storage time nearly equivalent to real time is controlled by providing a signal charge storage time control circuit that discriminates a level of an analog image signal of a prescribed picture element so as to control a signal charge storage time of a succeeding frame thereby reducing the circuit scale and the cost.

A time series analog image signal outputted for each frame from an infrared ray image pickup device 1 synchronously with a vertical synchronizing signal is converted into digital image signals S11-S0 by an A/D converter 13 and displayed on an image display section 15 via an image signal processing section 14. On the other hand, a signal charge storage time control circuit 16 discriminates a level of an analog image signal of a picture element at a head of each frame from high-order 4-bit digital image signals S11-S8 to control the signal charge storage time of the infrared ray image pickup device 1. Thus, the circuit scale is decreased to reduce the cost and the image pickup device in which the signal charge storage time almost in real time is controlled.