An image pickup apparatus comprising an imaging element for capturing an object image, and a sensor dedicated to focus detection for receiving light reflected from the object to output a signal for focus detection is provided. The image pickup apparatus carries out continuous shooting that sequentially exposes an imaging element. The image pickup apparatus acquires mode related information used in the determination of a focus adjusting mode applied to an interval between each of the exposures during the continuous shooting, and based on the acquired mode related information, determines either a first focus adjusting mode for calculating a defocus amount based on a signal output by the imaging element or a second focus adjusting mode for calculating the defocus amount based on a signal for focus detection output by the sensor dedicated for focus detecting, to be the focus adjusting mode applied to the interval between each of the exposures.