An image taking apparatus according to the present invention has: a primary CCD section that receives a predetermined first part of object light focused by an image-taking optical system to produce a primary image signal; a secondary CCD section that has a dynamic range wider than that of the primary CCD section and receives a second part of the object light excluding the first part to produce a secondary image signal; an image signal processing circuit that produces image data based on a synthetic signal produced by synthesizing the primary image signal and the secondary image signal if the synthetic signal, rather than the primary image signal, is selected; and an information adding section that adds predetermined additional information to the image data if the image signal processing circuit produces the image data based on the synthetic signal.