Patent ID: 7809251

Claim:
A disk camcorder comprising: an image pickup optical system including an image pickup element for obtaining recording information to be recorded; a memory for receiving the recording information obtained by the image pickup element and for temporarily storing the recording information; a recording/reproduction unit, coupled to the memory, for irradiating a disk-shaped recording medium (i) to record the recording information temporarily stored in the memory onto a disk-shaped recording medium through an intermittent operation having a first intermittent operation mode and a second intermittent operation mode or (ii) to reproduce the recording information recorded on the disk-shaped recording medium through the intermittent operation and to temporarily store the recording information in the memory; and a switching unit for switching between the first intermittent operation mode and the second intermittent operation mode, wherein, in the first mode, the disk-shaped recording medium is irradiated with light flux having a first laser power for a first time period, and in the second mode, the disk-shaped recording medium is irradiated with light flux having a second laser power, which is lower in power than the first laser power, for a second time period, which is longer than the first time period.