An image pickup apparatus includes an extraction unit configured to extract feature points of an object from picked-up image data, a focus adjustment unit configured to, before starting pickup of an image for recording and/or storage, detect an in-focus position by moving a focus lens in a direction of an optical axis over a scan region which is decided based on the extracted feature points, and to control movement of the focus lens to be matched with the in-focus position, and an operation timing control unit configured to operate the focus adjustment unit and the extraction unit in a synchronous relation (inter-shooting AF(1) and AF(2)) in a continuous shooting mode in which the pickup of an image for recording and/or storage is repeated plural times.