Electronic still camera and image recording method thereof

An electronic still camera comprising:

• photographing processing means for obtaining image data by photographing;
• recording mode setting means for establishing a recording mode and for varying an amount of the image data to be obtained by said photographing processing means, in accordance with an established recording mode;
• a buffer memory for storing the image data obtained from said photographing processing means in accordance with the recording mode set by said recording mode setting means;
• a recording medium detachably coupled to said buffer memory, for appropriately recording the image data stored in said buffer memory;
• determination means for determining whether or not the image data stored in said buffer memory can be recorded on said recording medium by comparing the amount of the image data with recordable capacity of the recording medium;
• recording control means for recording the image data stored in said buffer memory on said recording medium when said determination means determines that said image data can be recorded;
• and
• means by which, when said determination means determines that the image data cannot be recorded, the stored content of said buffer memory is maintained until the image data stored in said buffer memory is determined to be recordable by said determination means.

An electronic still camera comprising:

• photographing processing means for obtaining image data in a plurality of recording modes different in data amount for one frame;
• recording mode selection means provided in correspondence to said photographing processing means to select one of the recording modes;
• coupling means for detachably coupling a recording medium;
• residual amount detection means for detecting the recordable capacity of the recording medium coupled to said coupling means through said coupling means;
• calculation means for obtaining the image data amount for one frame in the selected recording mode in response to the selection of said recording mode selection means and obtaining the number of frames capable of being recorded by said recording mode of the recording medium coupled to said coupling means from the image data amount for one frame and the recordable capacity detected by said residual amount detection means;
• display means for displaying the frame number obtained by said calculation means;
• and
• recording means for recording the image data obtained by said photographing processing means on the recording medium coupled to said coupling means in accordance with the recording mode selected by said recording mode selection means.

An electronic still camera comprising:

• photographing processing means for photographing a subject to obtain an image data of a still image;
• coupling means for detachably coupling a memory card with a semiconductor memory mounted thereon;
• memory information reading means for reading the type of semiconductor memory of said memory card coupled to said coupling means and information of access time from said memory card through said coupling means;
• associated mode setting means provided operative to said photographing processing means to set an associated mode for continuously obtaining the image data of still image of plural frames at a plurality of different associated speeds in said photographing processing means;
• upper limit speed determination means for obtaining an upper limit of the associated speed from the type of a semiconductor memory of said memory card read by said memory information reading means and information of written access time;
• and
• recording means for recording the image data obtained from said photographing processing means on the memory card coupled to said coupling means.

An image recording method in an electronic still camera comprising the steps of:

• setting a desired recording mode by selecting an arbitrary data amount for one frame of image data;
• obtaining the image data in accordance with the recording mode set by said recording mode setting step;
• storing the image data obtained by said image data obtaining step in a buffer memory;
• determining whether or not the image data stored in said buffer memory can be recorded on a recording medium set to the camera;
• recording the image data stored in said buffer memory on said recording medium when the image data is determined to be recordable by said determination step;
• and
• maintaining the image data stored in said buffer memory therein until the image data stored in said buffer memory is determined to be recordable by said determination step.

An image recording method in an electronic still camera comprising the steps of:

• selecting a desired recording mode from a plurality of recording modes which are each different in specifying a data amount for comprising one frame of image data;
• obtaining the image data according to the recording mode selected by said recording mode selection step;
• detecting an available recordable capacity of a recording medium set to the camera;
• calculating the image data amount for one frame in the recording mode selected by said recording mode selection step;
• calculating a number of frames capable of being recorded on the recording medium in the recording mode selected from an image data amount for one frame and the recordable capacity detected by said detection step;
• displaying the frame number obtained by said calculation step;
• and
• recording, on said recording medium, the image data obtained by said image data obtaining step in accordance with the recording mode selected by said recording mode selection step.