Lighting apparatus and illuminating fixture with the same

A control circuit selects a first control mode in which a switching element is turned on and off so that a current flows through an inductor in a critical or discontinuous mode, thereby fully lighting a light source load. The control circuit selects one of a second control mode in which On time of the switching element is changed and a third control mode in which an oscillating frequency is changed according to an interval, to which a designated dimming ratio corresponds, to dim the light source load. An output capacitor connected between output terminals of a step-down chopper circuit smoothes pulsation component of an output current supplied to the light source load and has capacity set so that a ripple ratio of the output current is less than 0.5 at full lighting of the light source load.