The present invention provides a camera with AF auxiliary illumination in which the focus position of an image taking lens is AF controlled to bring an object into focus, based on contrast information of an image acquired from an image pickup device, and if the photometric value of the object is less than a predetermined value, an AF auxiliary illumination is directed to the object, wherein the AF auxiliary illumination reflected from the object is measured, in which if the photometric value is greater than or equal to a specified value, the AF auxiliary illumination is dimmed out, and the emission amount of the AF auxiliary illumination is controlled based on the focus position of the image taking lens.