Patent ID: 7428013

Claim:
An electronic camera comprising: an image pickup unit comprising light receiving elements arranged in a matrix form and transfer lines for transferring electric charges obtained by exposing the light receiving elements; a display unit which displays an image obtained by the image pickup unit; a recording unit which records the image obtained by the image pickup unit; a first driving unit which drives the image pickup unit by periodically executing the exposure of the light receiving elements and the transfer of the electric charges by the transfer lines; a second driving unit which drives the image pickup unit by periodically executing the exposure of the light receiving elements and the transfer of the electric charges by the transfer lines, as well as by sweeping out the electric charges by driving the transfer lines at a high speed within a period between an end of a transfer of the electric charges and a start of a next transfer; a first camera control unit which controls the display unit to display images periodically obtained by the image pickup unit driven by the first driving unit, and which controls the recording unit not to record said images; a second camera control unit which controls the display unit to display images periodically obtained by the image pickup unit driven by the second driving unit, and which controls the recording unit to record said images; and a driving switching unit which selects one of a camera control by the first camera control unit and a camera control by the second camera control unit.