An image pickup apparatus having two image sensors includes two solid state image pickup devices and a prism group that includes a color separation coating that reflects green light. Red and blue transmitting "on chip" color filters are supported on one of the two solid state image pickup devices. The image pickup apparatus has a spectral design to control color shading in changing environments, and is also designed for easy assembly. The spectral design requires that the spectral transmission characteristics of the color separation coating, the red and blue transmitting color filters, and the spectral sensitivity characteristics of pixels of the solid state image pickup devices satisfy certain conditions that pertain to boundaries between the red, blue, and green light. Image readout is provided by combining two adjacent pixels of the image field. A method of manufacturing such an image pickup apparatus is also disclosed.
