An apparatus used in fingerprint identification for extracting minutia data from fingerprint image data. An optical sensor unit optically produces a sequence of fingerprint image data during a single operation of pressing a fingerpad onto an inspection plate in a direction substantially transverse to the plate and with increasing pressure over a time interval. A data storing unit stores the produced fingerprint image data in the form of a sequence of fingerprint image data obtained during the single operation of pressing the fingerpad onto the inspection plate. The stored fingerprint image data is utilizable for identification of the fingerprint.