Patent ID: 8004603

Claim:
An electronic camera which has an imaging mode, and a non-imaging mode, respectively, the electronic camera comprising: a lens part being position-changeably mounted on a body of the electronic camera; a changing position unit changing the lens part between a storage position and a shooting-possible position in accordance with a degree of rotational position changing of the lens part, the storage position being a position where an aperture of the lens part is completely covered with the body of the electronic camera and where an almost continuous flat outermost surface is formed by the lens part and the body of the electronic camera, and the shooting-possible position being a position where the aperture of the lens part is not covered with the body of the electronic camera and sticks out from the body of the electronic camera; a determining unit determining whether the lens part is located at an unsuitable position for shooting an image in which at least a portion of the aperture of the lens part is hidden by the body of the electronic camera; a release button setting a shooting condition when half-pressed, and executing a shooting when full-pressed; and a shooting inhibiting unit for inhibiting the shooting when, upon the release button being full-pressed, the determining unit determines that said at least a portion of the aperture of the lens part is located at the unsuitable position for shooting, wherein the shooting inhibiting unit triggers the determining by the determining unit according to the release button being full-pressed, and when it is determined that the lens part is located at the unsuitable position for shooting, the shooting inhibiting unit inhibits shooting while keeping an operation mode of the electronic camera in an imaging mode in which a display of the electronic camera is continuously updated with an image that an image pickup part of the electronic camera is imaging.