Patent ID: 8243189

Claim:
An image sensor comprising: a plurality of imaging pixels disposed two-dimensionally in rows and columns for receiving light from a subject via an optical system to capture an image; a plurality of first focus detection pixels each receiving one of a pair of light fluxes for focus detection via the optical system and a plurality of second focus detection pixels each receiving the other of the pair of light fluxes for focus detection via the optical system, the plurality of first focus detection pixels and the plurality of second focus detection pixels being disposed, in place of the imaging pixel, in a portion of a row in which the imaging pixels are to be disposed; a row selection circuit that selects in turn a row from which pixel signals are read out among the plurality of imaging pixels and the plurality of first and second focus detection pixels being two-dimensionally disposed; a column selection circuit that selects in turn a column from which pixel signals are read out among the plurality of imaging pixels and the plurality of first and second focus detection pixels being two-dimensionally disposed; an output circuit that outputs pixel signals from the pixels selected by the column selection circuit, out of the pixels disposed in the rows selected by the row selection circuit; and a skip-read-out mode in which pixel signals are read out from the pixels with skipping and a whole-pixels-read-out mode in which pixel signals are read out from all the pixels, wherein the column selection circuit selects a column according to whether or not the row selected by the row selection circuit includes the first focus detection pixels and the second focus detection pixels; the column selection circuit selects a column from which pixel signals are to be read out in the rows selected by the row selection circuit at a predetermined interval when the skip-read-out mode is set; and the predetermined interval for the row that includes the first and the second focus detection pixels is set shorter than the predetermined pixel interval for the row that does not include the first and the second focus detection pixels.