A stereo camera device includes: plural picture image taking sections, an image correction section which makes correction of picture images taken, a parallax calculating section which calculates parallax, an amount of dislocation between the left and right images, and an image recognition section which carries out image recognition processing using both the image taken and the calculated parallax, or either of them. The stereo camera device further includes: a processing area setting up section which sets up the image area to be processed and reduction ratio differently depending on the driving environment of the vehicle on which the stereo camera device is mounted, wherein, by using the image area and the reduction ratio set up by the processing area setting up section, the image correction section makes correction to the picture image, the parallax calculating section calculates parallax, and the image recognition section carries out processing of image recognition.