Patent ID: 6958779

Claim:
A digital camera comprising: a taking lens; an image-sensing device for shooting an image by receiving light from the taking lens; an optical element, disposed retractably in an optical path from the taking lens to the image-sensing device, for reflecting part of the light from the taking lens; a photometric device for measuring an amount of light reflected from the optical element; a controller that, during shooting, makes an illumination device start emitting illumination light and then makes the illumination device stop emitting the illumination light when the amount of light measured by the photometric device has reached a predetermined value; a selector that selects either a first mode in which shooting is performed without emission of the illumination light by the illumination device and a second mode in which shooting is performed with emission of the illumination light by the illumination device; and a driver that retracts the optical element out of the optical path during shooting when the first mode is selected and that keeps the optical element in the optical path during shooting when the second mode is selected.