The present invention relates to a method for driving a solid-state image pickup device and a camera provided with the driving function. In the method for driving the solid-state image pickup device and the camera according to the present invention, the frame rate of the image pickup device is varied according to the frequency of illumination or the brightness. Alternatively, the frame rate of the image pickup device is varied and an electronic shutter is driven at the same time according to the brightness. Consequently, it is possible to suppress occurrence of flicker and give a liberal brightness condition under which an image can be picked up.