A contour compensation circuit that generates a contour-compensated signal by which a signal level of a contour of the object is emphasized, from an image signal obtained by an image pickup of an object. This circuit includes a reverse gamma controller, a contour compensation signal generator, and a calculator. The reverse gamma controller determines a standard channel from among the channels constituting the image signal, and obtains a liner standard channel from the standard channel by the reverse control. The contour compensation signal generator generates a contour compensation signal from the liner standard channel. The control signal generator computes a comparative value from the liner standard channel and the contour compensation signal, and generates a control signal based on a comparison between the comparative value and a threshold value. The calculator computes the contour-compensated signal based on the contour compensation and control signals, and the liner standard channel.