PURPOSE: To improve the operability of photographing by providing with a means making photographing possible even when a specific upper lid is closed.

CONSTITUTION: A camera main body 2 and an upper lid 3 are coupled with a hinge 31 mechanically and electrically, a switch is provided to the hinge 31 to detect an open/close state of the hinge 31 (upper cover 3). Whether or not the hinge 31 is closed is discriminated by an output of a sensing switch and when the hinge 31 is closed, since only a small area 32C of a liquid crystal display device 32 is seen through a transparent section 47 provided to the upper lid 3, an object image represented in an electric signal by an image pickup element is reduced to the size of the small area 32C and displayed to obtain a finder for confirming the image pickup range. In this state, when a release button 7 is depressed, camera photographing is executed by the photographing conditions set in the automatic photographing mode. Thus, the finder is always visible independently of the open/close state of the upper lid 3 and the operation for photographing is executed.