This invention provides an image pickup apparatus that performs an image pickup operation that alternately repeats a long exposure LE and a short exposure SE. The image pickup apparatus drives an image pickup device in a first driving mode that makes a first time interval between an exposure end time of a pixel in an SE and an exposure start time of the pixel in an LE immediately thereafter and a second time interval between the exposure end time of the pixel in the LE and the exposure start time of the pixel in the SE immediately thereafter equal.