A camera which prevents accidents which could lead to damage to the shutter when performing shutter time tests in the opened state of the back cover of a camera. The camera has a shutter to limit the exposure time of the recording medium which has been loaded, a measurement unit to measure, according to the action of the shutter, the time of the exposure to the recording medium which the shutter performs, and a back cover sensor to detect whether the back cover is open or closed when film or another recording medium has been loaded into the camera. The action of the measurement unit is inhibited when the back cover sensor detects that the back cover is open. The camera also has a drive unit for recording an image on the film or recording medium and a mode selection switch to select between a normal mode in which a photographic action is performed, in which the shutter and the drive unit are activated, and a test mode in which the shutter and the measurement unit are activated but not the drive unit. A shutter control unit may be used during testing so that the shutter is initially activated for an exposure time other than the minimum exposure time, when the shutter performs an exposure of the recording medium.