PURPOSE: To improve picture quality by suppressing flicker generated when an object is image-picked up by illumination light with period different from an image pickup period.

CONSTITUTION: This device is equipped with an illumination peak phase register 56 which stores a time until the light quantity of illumination before plural fields arrives the maximal value of the first period, a shutter phase register 59 which stores a time until the operation center time of an electronic shutter after the start time of a second period before plural fields, a phase comparator 60 which compares a phase value that is a time until the maximal value of the light quantity of illumination at the current field with the storage value of the illumination peak phase register 56, and an electronic shutter phase variable control circuit 55 which controls the operation start time of the electronic shutter at the next field by correcting the storage value of the shutter phase register 59 by the output of the phase comparator 60.