an image pickup unit adapted to acquire an RGB image signal by converting picked-up light into an electronic signal;

a processing unit adapted to convert the acquired RGB image signal into an image signal of a brightness color difference component and execute a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) compression process on the convened image signal;

an extraction unit adapted to extract, before an image file acquired in an image pickup process is recorded on a recording medium, first feature data acquired by analyzing the RGB image signal acquired by said image pickup unit and second feature data acquired by analyzing the image signal of the brightness color difference component precedent to the JPEG compression process acquired by said processing unit;

a file generation unit adapted to generate, by using the first feature data and the second feature data extracted by said extraction unit as additional information capable of being used in the correction process of the image signal, the image file together with the image signal subjected to the JPEG compression process by said processing unit; and

a recording unit adapted to record the image file on the recording medium,

wherein said file generation unit generates the image file, by recording from among the first feature data and the second feature data, the data of a standardized item according to an Exif (Exchangeable image file format) standard as a standard tag according to the Exif standard, and recording data other than the data of the standardized item according to the Exif standard as a private tag according to the Exif standard.