Abstract: In an image pickup system (15) which is carried on a craft (16) capable of flying along a flight path over an object zone, a single optical system (40) is disposed in the craft to form, on a focussing area (44), optical images of partial zones lying transversely of the flight path in the object zone. Forward and backward ones of the optical images that are picked up from forward and backward partial zones (P and Q) spaced apart from each other along the flight path are transduced into electrical signals by the use of photoelectric transducing members (41 and 42) placed on the focussing area with a gap left therebetween. The electrical signals are processed so that the forward and the backward images are concurrently reproduced on board the craft or in a terrestrial station to provide a stereo image.