Image pickup system

An image pickup system comprising an image pickup device, an image display device including a display screen for displaying an image, a controller for converting image information obtained from said image pickup device into a signal that enables said image information to be formed on said image display device, and a viewing optical system for guiding an image displayed on said display device to a viewer's eye, wherein:

• said image display device is a reflection type image display device for displaying an image by illumination from the display screen side thereof, said image pickup system further comprising an illumination member for illuminating said display screen of said reflection type image display device, and
• said viewing optical system comprises a plurality of lens elements and further includes at least one aspheric surface, and wherein:
• said viewing optical system comprises a plurality of lens components in which all surfaces thereof, in contact with air, are convex on an air side, said viewing optical system comprises at least three lens elements, and wherein the following conditions (1) and (3) are satisfied:
• 1.0<b/a (1)
• 1.4<fe/a<2.4 (3)
• where a is a distance from the display screen of said image display device to the surface, nearest to the image display device side, of said viewing optical system, b is a total length from the surface, axially nearest to the image display device side, of said viewing optical system to the surface thereof nearest to the viewer side, and fe is a focal length of said viewing optical system.