Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image forming unit comprising a plurality of image forming stations configured to form images of different colors, the image forming unit being capable of operating in a first mode of performing image formation using only a first image forming station for a predetermined color among the plurality of image forming stations, and a second mode of performing image formation using the plurality of image forming stations;
• and
• a controller configured to control the image formation in the first mode and the image formation in the second mode,
• wherein, in a case where the controller determines that switching to the image formation in the second mode occurs after the image formation in the first mode, the controller controls the image forming unit so that a second image forming station, which performs image formation first in the second mode among the plurality of image forming stations, starts a preparation operation of the image formation in the second mode before the first image forming station ends the image formation in the first mode.