A method and apparatus for correcting distortion of image-taking video signals are provided. The method and apparatus adopting the method are capable of reducing distortion generated in a taken picture by a focal plane phenomenon caused by a hand movement or the like in an image-taking apparatus employing an image-taking device of an X-Y address type. To be more specific, this method is capable of correcting horizontal and/or vertical directions observed in a taken image that is caused by a positional change of the image-taking device. In accordance with the method, one screen segment of the taken image is divided into a plurality of image sub-segments. For each of the image sub-segments, the rate of the positional change of the image-taking device is detected. Then, in each of the image sub-segments, the distortion caused by the positional change of the image-taking device in the taken image is corrected on the basis of the rate of the positional change of the image-taking device detected for each of the image sub-segments.