A magnified observation apparatus includes: an observation unit including a light source and an imaging unit; a light quantity parameter table recording unit configured to store plural light quantity parameter tables therein, each of the plural light quantity parameter tables including: a minimum value and a maximum value of light quantity of illumination light; and a unit manipulation amount obtained by division of an interval between the minimum value and the maximum value by a predetermined division number, maximum values in the plural light quantity parameter tables being different from one another; a light quantity parameter selecting unit configured to select one light quantity parameter table from the plural light quantity parameter tables; and a light source control unit configured to increase or decreases light quantity of the illumination light, correspondingly to magnitude of the unit manipulation amount in the selected light quantity parameter table.