An image forming apparatus capable of adequately adjusting the amount of a low friction agent to be applied to the surface of a photoconductive element in accordance with image quality is disclosed. After preselected initialization, an electrophotographic image forming section records a usual image or a particular image for evaluation on a paper. A toner image formed on the photoconductive element and a toner image transferred from the element to a paper are read. Image data representative of such toner images and the initial image data are compared to see if the read images are defective or not. The low friction agent is applied to the photoconductive element in an amount controlled on the basis of the result of the decision.
