An electronic still camera includes a stand-by mode switch and is capable of
setting
a stand-by mode in which a power and/or driving pulse is supplied to a CCD so that
the mode can immediately shift to an image pickup operation upon a release instruction
by a release switch. In the camera, a plurality of sensors for detecting contact
or approach of a hand to make an image pickup operation are provided dispersedly
at different positions, respectively. If the stand-by mode is set by the stand-by
mode switch and all the sensors detect contact or approach of the hand, each processing
in an AE processing section, AF processing section, and AWB processing section
is carried out as a preliminary operation for image pickup.
