An imaging apparatus control unit, comprising a calculation block, a first control block, an output block, and a second control block, is provided. The calculation block calculates the number of possible photographs. The number of possible photographs is set as the sequential-photographing number. The first control block carries out imaging control for either sequential-photographing or single-photographing. The output block outputs the compressed image signal to the memory. The second control block either repeatedly carries out the sequential control for sequential-photographing, or stops carrying out the sequential control for sequential-photographing and begins carrying out the sequential control for single-photographing when the sequential-photographing number is below a first predetermined number.