An electronic camera of the present invention has an image pickup part, an
ambient light colorimetric part, an operation member, a colorimetric
calculation part, and a white balance adjustment part. The image pickup
part captures an optical image through a photo-taking lens to generate
color image data. The ambient light colorimetric part measures color of
ambient light without passing through the photo-taking lens. The
operation member receives an instruction for the colorimetric timing of
ambient light from a user. The colorimetric calculation part obtains the
colorimetric result from the ambient light colorimetric part in
synchronization with the colorimetric timing, and calculates and stores
color gain bringing the colorimetric result near to achromatic color. The
white balance adjustment part performs white balance adjustment of image
data in accordance with the stored color gain. The structure of the
electric camera like this allows preset white balance to be executed in
freer timing.