COMPOUND EYE IMAGE PICKUP DEVICE UTILIZING PLURAL IMAGE SENSORS AND PLURAL LENSES

For facilitating the search of corresponding points in plural images obtained from plural image pickup systems, in obtaining left and right images from left and right image pickup systems and searching two corresponding points in the two images by a corresponding point extraction unit, the search range thereof is determined according to the phototaking parameters of the image pickup systems. The paired corresponding points, thus extracted, are synthesized, in a synthesis/conversion unit, into a panoramic image or a high definition image. Thus achieved are a reduction in the search time and an improvement in the precision of search.