1. A camera apparatus comprising: a display device for displaying in a standby state for taking a picture an optical image of a subject to be photographed; a memory for storing photographing condition data for setting a photographing condition for the camera apparatus, sample images each for indicating an image of the subject corresponding to the photographing condition data, and additional information data for explaining the photographing condition and contents of the sample image; a selector for selecting one of the sample images stored in the memory in response to a selecting operation; a photographing-condition setting unit for setting the photographing condition based on the photographing condition data corresponding to the sample image selected by the selector; and a display controller for causing the display device to display the sample image selected by the selector together with the optical image of the subject in the standby state for taking a picture.