PURPOSE: To provide the image pickup system superior in practicality, capable of stably recognizing characters irrespective of character size.

CONSTITUTION: An image pickup device 100 is provided with an optical system consisting of an image pickup lens 10 and a shutter 12, an image pickup element 14 arranged in the image forming position of this system, an image pickup control circuit 26 for control of focusing, magnification varying, and exposure and processing for distance measurement and light measurement, a picture memory 24 where picture information of the image pickup element 14 is stored, a picture compressing and expanding circuit 22 for various processings, and a memory 50 where a program is stored. An information processor 200 provided with an operation means 66, a display means 64, and a storage means 62 is provided attachably to and detachably from this image pickup device 100.