Abstract: An endoscope in which moving and still picture image pickup operations are alternatively carried out, and a light source emits either a continuous light or a pulsed light in the moving or still picture image pickup operations, a detector detects illuminances of moving and still picture images in the moving and still picture image pickup operations to obtain an illuminance ratio between the moving and still picture images, and the illuminance ratio is adjusted to a certain value by an adjuster on the basis of the illuminance ratio detected by the detector.

Abstract: An electronic endoscope including a scope having an image pickup device, such as a CCD, for picking up color image signls of an object to be observed, and a light source unit for outputting to the scope either a continuous DC light in a moving image pickup operation or a pulsed light in a still image pickup operation for illuminating the object. A color separation circuit calculates white balance factors for primary colors, a multiplier calculates color correction factors for the primary colors, a multiplier carries out a white balance operation of the color image signals by multiplying the white balance factors thereto, and an image memory carries out a color correction operation of the color image signals by multiplying the color correction factors thereto in the still image pickup operation.