It is so arranged that the user of a device such as a digital still camera can ascertain the transfer history of an image file that has been transferred to the camera. An image file is obtained by “Mr. A” shooting a subject using a digital still camera, whereupon information concerning the owner of the camera is read and “Mr. A” is written to a photographer/transferor history table as the photographer of the image file. The table is placed in the header recording area of the image file. If the image file is transferred to a “Miss B”, the table is read out of the image file and “Miss B” is written to the table as the transferor of the image file. The table thus updated is placed in the header recording area of the image file. One can determine the photographer and transferor of the image file by referring to the table.