Color image pickup apparatus having a plurality of color filters

Claim 1

A color image pickup apparatus comprising an image pickup element having a plurality of pixels two-dimensionally arranged in horizontal and vertical directions, wherein horizontal lines twice as many as a number of horizontal lines required to obtain a desired image are arranged in said image pickup element, the horizontal lines comprising first and second horizontal lines which are alternately arranged such that first color filters are arranged on each first horizontal line and second and third color filters are arranged for every other pixel on each second horizontal line, a first difference signal being formed by calculating a difference between a signal output from a given pixel for which the second color filter is arranged and a signal output from a pixel which is on a same column as the given pixel and for which the first color filter is arranged, a second difference signal being formed by calculating a difference between a signal output from a given pixel for which the third color filter is arranged and a signal from a pixel which is on the same column as the given pixel and for which the first color filter is arranged, and color difference signals being formed on the basis of the first and second difference signals, wherein a luminance signal is formed by synthesizing a signal output from a pixel for which the first color filter is arranged and the first and second difference signals.