1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camera having a built-in printer in which a printing light is emitted to an instant film in accordance with image data, which is obtained by photographing a subject image, to perform hard copy of the image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital camera utilizing a CCD image sensor and so forth is widely used. In the digital camera, an optical subject image is converted into an electronic image signal. Further, the electronic image signal is digitally converted for obtaining image data to be stored in a memory. Some of the digital cameras have a built-in printer to produce a photo print of the desired image data by means of hard copy. This image data is selected among the image data stored in the memory, and the hard copy thereof is performed on an instant film. The printer is provided with an optical head for emitting printing lights of respective colors of red(R), green(G) and blue(B). The optical head is disposed so as to confront a photosensitive surface of the instant film, and is moved on a parallel therewith. Upon selecting the desired image data for the hard copy and upon starting a print operation, the optical head performs an exposure in accordance with the image data, moving in a sub-scanning direction. The exposure is performed in a three-color frame-sequential manner to print a full-color image on the instant film.
In the above-described digital camera having the built-in printer, it is possible to easily perform the hard copy of the image data stored in the memory. However, even though the instant film on which the image is recorded by the hard copy exists, it is impossible to perform the hard copy of the same image again when the image data is erased from the memory.