To perform accurately inspect a semiconductor device for appearance in a short time under a space- and cost-saving condition.

A mirror optical system 13 is arranged above, namely, around a semiconductor device 11. An image pickup device 12 simultaneously picks up the image of the upper surface of the device 11 and the images of the four side faces of the device 11 which are picked up through the optical system 13. An image processing device 14 inspects the device 11 for appearance by comparing video signals supplied from the image pickup device 12 with basic patterns stored in a second memory 19. Since the necessity of pluralities of cameras and image processing devices is eliminated at the time of picking up the images of the side faces for the inspection, the semiconductor device 11 can be inspected for appearance in a short time under a space- and cost- saving condition.