To provide an exposure control system for a video camera which can perform control to a proper exposure level even when a subject with high luminance has a thick color by providing a detection part for a luminance signal component generated on the basis of a video signal generated by an image pickup element, a detection part for a color difference signal component, and a diaphram control means which controls the diaphram quantity of an iris.

For exposure control, this exposure controller is provided with a color difference detection part 6 in addition to a luminance detection part 5, an adder 7 performs addition between the both, and a subtracter 9 performs subtraction between the adder output signal and an exposure control command outputted by an exposure control command setter 8; and a regulator 10 calculates an exposure level for making the subtracter output signal zero and an exposure control means is controlled through a timing pulse generator 11 with the output of the regulator.