An improved image pickup device or method and an improved image processing device or method which directly projects a region specifying image on an object to specify and focus the object within a predetermined region without employing any image display unit so as to take an image of the object and judge the quality of the taken image. An image pickup device (2) includes an image pickup means (22) for taking an image of an object (1) which is focused through a lens (21), and a projecting means (25) for projecting an image (27p) of a predetermined shape on the object. An image processing device (4) compares the image taken by the image pickup device (2) with a predetermined image stored beforehand to produce a result of such comparison.