To provide an iris controller for controlling an iris at proper speed with high accuracy without making uneven a controlled variable of incident light quantity all over the area of opening/closing operation of the iris, and to provide an iris control method.

The iris controller includes an IRIS digital controlling section 8 which is constituted to control the opening/closing operation of the IRIS based on an IRIS control command of a digital camera, and more finely switch the control of the opening/closing operation thereof as an opening diameter of the iris 6 gets smaller in association with the opening diameter of the iris 6. The iris controller further includes a Hall element 7 outputting an electrical signal in accordance with an amount of opening/closing operation of the iris 6, and a Hall gain controller 14 and a Hall driver 17 switching sensitivity of the Hall element 7 to the predetermined amount of opening/closing operation of the iris 6, and is constituted to make the sensitivity of the Hall element 7 larger as resolution in iris control becomes finer.

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