Disclosed is an image pickup apparatus configured to include an image pickup unit housing in which an image pickup unit that picks up images is housed, and a handle that is disposed on an upper part of the image pickup unit housing at a predetermined gap from the image pickup unit housing and is disposed approximately in parallel with an optical axis of light incident on the image pickup unit. The image pickup apparatus further includes a display unit that is placed on a lower surface of the handle and is operable when pulled out from the lower surface to display images picked up by the image pickup unit in a viewable manner.