A direct printing system having a photo-direct printer connected to a digital still camera is provided, in which each of the printer and the camera comprises a decoder and an encoder that are compatible with both commands in PictBridge format and commands in PTP format including VEOC commands specific to each vendor. The VEOC commands include a command for the printer to notify the camera of print layout information which the printer creates, and also include a command for the camera to notify the printer of content of command input from a user about the print layout information. This makes it possible for the user, on the camera side, to identify a print layout at the time of multi-partitioned print in e.g. 4-up layout, and to command change of the print layout according to the PictBridge standard, thereby readily enabling printing according to the intention of the user.