Image processing apparatus, control method thereof, and program

An image processing apparatus which corrects image data containing an image of a foreign substance by removing the image of the foreign substance, the foreign substance sticking to an optical element arranged in front of an image sensor for photoelectrically converting an object image, and outputs corrected image data that has undergone correction as a visible image, comprising:

• an image pixel count acquisition unit adapted to acquire the number of pixels of the image of the image data;
• an output resolution acquisition unit adapted to acquire information about a resolution of the image to be output to the output device;
• a foreign substance correction level setting unit adapted to set a degree of foreign substance correction on the basis of at least the number of pixels acquired by the image pixel count acquisition unit and the information about the resolution acquired by the output resolution acquisition unit;
• and
• a foreign substance correction unit adapted to correct the image of the foreign substance contained in the image data on the basis of the foreign substance correction level set by the foreign substance correction level setting unit.