To obtain a high quality video image with a high resolution through the use of an image pickup element with a low resolution by driving an optical path refraction plate placed on the front face of the image pickup element so that each optical element of an object video image is emitted sequentially at a prescribed position in a pixel corresponding to the image pickup element.

Since an optical path refraction plate 11 refracts a light incident onto an image pickup element when the optical path refraction plate 11 is rotated, a position of each optical element emitted on the image pickup element is moved by a prescribed distance (p). A driver consists of a 1st drive section that rotates an inner holder 12 mourned a longitudinal axis 13a and a 2nd drive section to rotate the optical path refraction plate 11 around a lateral axis 12a. As a result, the optical path refraction plate 11 is rotated around the lateral axis 12a and the longitudinal axis 13a by the driver. A dimorph piezoelectric device or a voice coil motor is preferable for each drive section but other driving device may also be used.