Electronic apparatus and method for conditionally providing image processing by an external apparatus

An electronic apparatus comprising

• a photography unit that performs photography and outputs prior-to-processing image data;
• a communication unit that is capable of communicating with an external apparatus, which includes an image processing unit and communicates with a plurality of electronic apparatuses, and, after transmitting the prior-to-processing image data to the external apparatus, receives externally-processed image data generated by processing on the prior-to-processing image data by the image processing unit of the external apparatus;
• a determination unit that determines whether or not the prior-to-processing image data is to be transmitted to the external apparatus;
• a processing unit that processes the prior-to-processing image data to internally-processed image data;
• and
• a display unit that displays a live-view image generated according to the externally-processed image data.

A display method comprising:

• outputting prior-to-processing image data from a photography unit;
• and
• determining whether image processing is performed in an image processing unit of an external apparatus that communicates with a plurality of electronic apparatuses or an internal processing unit, according to whether a photographic mode of the photography unit is selected to a movie image photographic mode or a still image photographic mode, wherein
• if it is determined that the image processing is performed in the image processing unit of the external apparatus, the prior-to-processing image data is transmitted to the external apparatus, externally-processed image data generated by processing on the prior-to-processing image data by the image processing unit of the external apparatus is received, and an image generated by the externally-processed image data is displayed.

A display method comprising:

• outputting prior-to-processing image data from a photography unit;
• and
• determining whether image processing is performed in an image processing unit of an external apparatus that communicates with a plurality of electronic apparatuses or an internal processing unit, wherein
• if it is determined that the image processing is performed in the image processing unit of the external apparatus, the prior-to-processing image data is transmitted to the external apparatus, externally-processed image data generated by processing on the prior-to-processing image data by the image processing unit of the external apparatus is received, and an image generated by the externally-processed image data is displayed.

An electronic apparatus comprising:

• an image processing unit that performs image processing;
• and
• a communication unit that is capable of communicating with a plurality of external apparatuses each of which includes a photography unit outputting prior-to-processing image data and a display unit displaying an image, wherein
• if the communication unit receives the prior-to-processing image data from one of the plurality of external apparatuses, the communication unit transmits externally-processed image data to the one of the plurality of external apparatuses, the externally-processed image data being generated by performing image processing on the received prior-to-processing image data by the image processing unit so as to be able to be displayed on the display unit of the one of the plurality of external apparatuses, and
• the image processing performed by the image processing unit is equivalent to image processing performed in the one of the plurality of external apparatuses.