Electronic still camera for recording still picture on memory card with mode selecting shutter release

An electronic still camera comprising:

• a camera housing;
• an optical system disposed in said camera housing;
• a solid state imaging device, which is disposed at a predetermined location in said camera housing and on which an image of an object is focused through said optical system, said solid state imaging device including a number of pixels for storing signal charges corresponding to the amount of incident light thereto, and readout means for reading out a signal charge stored in each of said pixels as an analog picture signal;
• shutter release means having a shutter release disposed on said camera housing and adapted to be actuated by an operator, said shutter release serving as a mode change-over switch which provides a first control signal by half depression of said shutter release and a second control signal by full depression of said shutter release;
• shutter control circuit means, coupled to said shutter release means, for generating in response to the second control signal a shutter pulse having a pulse width corresponding to a shutter time set externally, and a solid state imaging device drive frequency switching control signal;
• solid state imaging device driving means for driving said solid state imaging device on a real time basis in response to the first control signal to continuously derive analog picture signals representing a motion image of the object, controlling a charge storage time of said solid state imaging device according to the pulse width of the shutter pulse in response to reception of the shutter pulse and deriving, from said solid state imaging device, an analog picture signal corresponding to the signal charge stored in each of said pixels within the charge storage time at a low speed in response to the solid state imaging device drive frequency switching control signal;
• electronic view finder means, coupled to said solid state imaging device, for displaying the motion image of the object based on the analog picture signal continuously derived from said solid state imaging device when said solid state imaging device is driven on a real time basis;
• analog-to-digital conversion means, coupled to said solid state imaging device and said solid state imaging device driving means, for converting the analog picture signal derived from said solid state imaging device for each of said pixels, into a digital picture signal at a low speed;
• and
• a card type recording medium, adapted to be loaded into a predetermined location of said camera housing through an insert section provided thereon, said recording medium having a plurality of semiconductor memory chips for recording the digital picture signal from said analog-to-digital conversion means for each of said pixels in response to said solid state imaging device driving means.