In an endoscope and an image acquisition method, based on a time (wa) from starting of emission of illumination light from a first light source until a light quantity of the illumination light is stabilized and a time (wb) from starting emission of projection light from a second light source until a light quantity of the projection light is stabilized, one of an illumination unit and a pattern projection unit, which has a long time until the light quantity is stabilized, is operated first so that a first image of a specimen is acquired by an image capturing unit, and the other of the illumination unit and the pattern projection unit, which has a short time until the light quantity is stabilized, is operated after acquisition of the first image so that a second image of the specimen is acquired by the image capturing unit.
