Electronic camera for producing quickview images

Abstract

An electronic camera according to the present invention includes: an image pickup part for picking up a subject image to produce image data; a processing part for processing the image data outputted from the image pickup part to produce a quickview image for monitor display and also produce image data for record on a recording medium; and a monitor part for displaying the quickview image. The processing part commences displaying the quickview image on the monitor part prior to the production of the image data for record. This processing allows the display of the quickview image to be commenced without waiting for completion of the production of the image data for record. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the time lag occurring at displaying the quickview image, thereby improving the convenience of the electronic camera.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An electronic camera comprising: 
 an image pickup part for picking up a subject image to produce image data;    a processing part for processing said image data outputted from said image pickup part to produce a quickview image and image data for record, the quickview image being used for monitor display, the image data for record being to be recorded on a recording medium; and    a monitor part for displaying said quickview image, wherein 
 said processing part commences displaying said quickview image on said monitor part prior to a completion of production of said image data for record.  
   
     
     
         2 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , wherein said processing part comprises: 
 an image processing part for receiving said image data outputted from said image pickup part to image-process said image data and produce said image data for record; and    a quickview producing part for receiving said image data outputted from said image pickup part to reduce the number of pixels of said image data and to thereby produce said quickview image, and for commencing displaying said quickview image on said monitor part prior to the completion of production of said image data for record.    
     
     
         3 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , wherein said processing part comprises: 
 a buffer part for temporarily storing said image data outputted from said image pickup part;    a reducing part for receiving said image data from one of said image pickup part and said buffer part to reduce the number of pixels of said image data and to thereby produce slimmed-down intermediate data; and    an image processing part for producing said quickview image first by image-processing said intermediate data outputted from said reducing part and for producing said image data for record second by image-processing said image data temporarily stored in said buffer part.    
     
     
         4 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 an image compressing part for compressing said quickview image first and said image data for record second to produce their respective compressed data; and    a recording part for recording the compressed data of said quickview image first and the compressed data of said produced image data for record second.    
     
     
         5 . The electronic camera according to  claim 3 , wherein when said image pickup part produces a plurality of sets of image data by continuously picking up a subject image, 
 said buffer part sequentially and temporarily stores said plurality of sets of image data outputted from said image pickup part,    said image processing part reads said image data temporarily stored in said buffer part and produces said image data for record, and    said reducing part reduces the number of pixels of said image data for record to produce said quickview images in sequence.    
     
     
         6 . The electronic camera according to  claim 5 , further comprising 
 an image compressing part for compressing said quickview image and said image data for record, wherein when said image pickup part produces the plurality of sets of image data by continuously picking up the subject image,    said buffer part temporarily stores said quickview images sequentially produced by said reducing part, and    said image compressing part receives said quickview images from said buffer part to compress said quickview images.    
     
     
         7 . The electronic camera according to  claim 5 , further comprising: 
 an image compressing part for sequentially compressing said image data for record to produce compressed data thereof; and    a recording part for recording the compressed data of image data for record sequentially produced by said image compressing part, wherein when said image pickup part produces a plurality of sets of image data by continuously picking up a subject image,    said buffer part temporarily stores the compressed data of said image data for record sequentially produced by said image compressing part, and    said recording part receives the compressed data of said image data for record from said buffer part and records the received compressed data of said image data for record.    
     
     
         8 . The electronic camera according to  claim 1 , wherein 
 said processing part reduces the number of pixels of said quickview image to produce a thumbnail image for a display list.