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An image pickup apparatus performs focus control by a contrast detection method during a continuous shooting interval. After the image pickup apparatus controls the movement of the focus lens and captures an image for recording in the continuous shooting mode, the image pickup apparatus controls the

An image pickup apparatus performs focus control by a contrast detection method during a continuous shooting interval. After the image pickup apparatus controls the movement of the focus lens and captures an image for recording in the continuous shooting mode, the image pickup apparatus controls the movement of the focus lens before capturing the subsequent image for recording concurrently with performance of a development process of the captured image.

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1. An image pickup apparatus having a continuous shooting mode in which a plurality of images are captured for recording in response to an image capture instruction, the image pickup apparatus comprising: a detection unit configured to perform a detection operation to detect a focal point for an obj

1. An image pickup apparatus having a continuous shooting mode in which a plurality of images are captured for recording in response to an image capture instruction, the image pickup apparatus comprising: a detection unit configured to perform a detection operation to detect a focal point for an object in accordance with a captured image while moving a focus lens in a light axis direction of the focus lens; anda control unit configured to control movement of the focus lens and to control capturing of an image, including capturing first image data of a first image and capturing a second image data of a second image which is continuous of the first image, wherein the control unit is configured to control movement of the focus lens so that the focus lens is focused at the focal point detected by the detection unit,wherein, in the continuous shooting mode and after the control unit controls the movement of the focus lens using the focal point detected by the detection unit and captures the first image data for recording in the continuous shooting mode, the control unit controls the movement of the focus lens before capturing the second image data for recording in the continuous shooting mode, andwherein (i) applying image development processing to the captured first image data to generate processed first image data and (ii) moving the focus lens via the control unit as part of a detection operation by the detection unit to detect a focal point for an object in accordance with the captured first data image to be used in capturing the second image data are performed concurrently. 2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein control of the movement of the focus lens for capturing the second image data and a readout process of an exposure image from an image pickup device are performed concurrently. 3. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein control of the movement of the focus lens for capturing the second image data includes controlling movement of the focus lens so that the focus lens is at a scan start position utilized to detect the focal point. 4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the continuous shooting mode, a position from which the detection unit performs detection of a focal point for use in capturing the second image data is determined based on a position of a focal point detected during capturing of the first image data. 5. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a continuous auto focus (AF) mode unit having a single AF mode in which a subject is focused on in one scanning operation immediately before a shooting operation and a continuous AF mode in which a subject is focused on before and during a shooting operation; anda determination unit configured to determine whether an AF mode of the continuous AF mode unit is the single AF mode or the continuous AF mode and to determine a scan range of the detection unit to perform a detection operation to detect a focusing state by acquiring a focus evaluation value,wherein, in response to the determination unit determining that the AF mode is the single AF mode, the determination unit determines the scan range of the detection unit to be an entire AF available area, andwherein, in response to the determination unit determining that the AF mode is the continuous AF mode, the determination unit determines the scan range of the detection unit to be less than the entire AF available area so that a focus control operation based on a contrast detection method can be achieved within a limited continuous shooting interval time. 6. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a scan range less than the entire AF available area is a scan range having a predetermined narrow scan width at a center of which is a current focus lens position. 7. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein image development processing of the captured first image data includes at least one of white balance adjustment and format conversion. 8. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 7, wherein image development processing of the captured first image data is a process starting from a readout of a signal output from an analogue/digital converter to conversion of an image format of the captured first image data. 9. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a determining unit configured to determine a scan range to be used as part of capturing an image, wherein the determining unit determines a scan range, to be used as part of capturing the second image data, having a scan width that is equal to a scan width of a scan range used as part of capturing the first image data such that a time interval between image capturing operations in the continuous shooting mode does not increase. 10. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein (i) applying image development processing to the captured first image data and (ii) moving the focus lens as part of a detection operation to detect a focal point are performed concurrently in part at least. 11. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection operation to detect a focal point is a scan operation. 12. An image pickup apparatus having a continuous shooting mode in which a plurality of images are captured for recording in response to an image capture instruction, the image pickup apparatus comprising: a detection unit configured to perform a detection operation to detect a focal point for an object in accordance with a captured image while moving a focus lens in a light axis direction of the focus lens;a memory configured to temporarily store captured images;an instructing unit configured to instruct a monitor to output the plurality of images without recording the captured images stored in the memory; anda control unit configured to control movement of the focus lens and to control capturing of an image, including capturing first image data of a first image and capturing a second image data of a second image which is continuous of the first image, wherein the control unit is configured to control movement of the focus lens so that the focus lens is focused at the focal point detected by the detection unit,wherein, in the continuous shooting mode and after the control unit controls the movement of the focus lens using the focal point detected by the detection unit and captures the first image data for recording in the continuous shooting mode, the control unit controls the movement of the focus lens before the instruction unit instructs the monitor to output one image of the plurality of images, andwherein (i) applying image development processing to the captured first image data to generate processed first image data and (ii) moving the focus lens via the control unit as part of a detection operation by the detection unit to detect a focal point for an object in accordance with the captured first data image to be used in capturing the second image data are performed concurrently. 13. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 12, wherein, in the continuous shooting mode, a position from which the detection unit performs detection of a focal point for use in capturing the second image data is determined based on a position of a focal point detected during capturing of the first image data. 14. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising: a continuous auto focus (AF) mode unit having a single AF mode in which a subject is focused on in one scanning operation immediately before a shooting operation and a continuous AF mode in which a subject is focused on before and during a shooting operation; anda determination unit configured to determine whether an AF mode of the continuous AF mode unit is the single AF mode or the continuous AF mode and to determine a scan range of the detection unit to detect a focusing state by acquiring a focus evaluation value,wherein, in response to the determination unit determining that the AF mode is the single AF mode, the determination unit determines the scan range of the detection unit to be an entire AF available area, andwherein, in response to the determination unit determining that the AF mode is the continuous AF mode, the determination unit determines the scan range of the detection unit to be less than the entire AF available area so that a focus control operation based on a contrast detection method can be achieved within a limited continuous shooting interval time. 15. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 14, wherein a scan range less than the entire AF available area is a scan range having a predetermined narrow scan width at a center of which is a current focus lens position. 16. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 12, wherein (i) applying image development processing to the captured first image data and (ii) moving the focus lens as part of a detection operation to detect a focal point are performed concurrently in part at least. 17. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the detection operation to detect a focal point is a scan operation. 18. A method utilized in an image pickup apparatus having a continuous shooting mode in which a plurality of images are captured for recording in response to an image capture instruction, the method comprising: performing a detection operation to detect a focal point for an object in accordance with a captured image while moving a focus lens in a light axis direction of the focus lens; andcontrolling movement of the focus lens and controlling capturing of an image, including capturing first image data of a first image and capturing a second image data of a second image which is continuous of the first image, wherein controlling movement includes controlling movement of the focus lens so that the focus lens is focused at the detected focal point,wherein, in the continuous shooting mode and after controlling movement of the focus lens using the detected focal point and capturing the first image data for recording in the continuous shooting mode, controlling movement includes controlling the movement of the focus lens before capturing the second image data for recording in the continuous shooting mode, andwherein (i) applying image development processing to the captured first image data to generate processed first image data and (ii) moving the focus lens as part of a detection operation to detect a focal point for an object in accordance with the captured first data image to be used in capturing the second image data are performed concurrently. 19. A method to be utilized in an image pickup apparatus having a continuous shooting mode in which a plurality of images are captured for recording in response to an image capture instruction, the method comprising: performing a detection operation to detect a focal point for an object in accordance with a captured image while moving a focus lens in a light axis direction of the focus lens; temporarily storing captured images in a memory; instructing a monitor to output the plurality of images without recording the captured images stored in the memory; andcontrolling movement of the focus lens and controlling capturing of an image, including capturing first image data of a first image and capturing a second image data of a second image which is continuous of the first image, wherein controlling movement includes controlling movement of the focus lens so that the focus lens is focused at the detected focal point,wherein, in the continuous shooting mode and after controlling movement of the focus lens using the detected focal point and capturing the first image data for recording in the continuous shooting mode, controlling movement includes controlling the movement of the focus lens before instructing the monitor to output one image of the plurality of images, andwherein (i) applying image development processing to the captured first image data to generate processed first image data and (ii) moving the focus lens as part of a detection operation to detect a focal point for an object in accordance with the captured first data image to be used in capturing the second image data are performed concurrently. 20. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program that causes an image pickup apparatus to perform the method according to claim 18. 21. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program that causes an image pickup apparatus to perform the method according to claim 19.