Patent ID: 8605178

Claim:
A solid-state imaging apparatus comprising: a plurality of pixels, wherein each of the pixels includes a photoelectric conversion unit for generating a charge by photoelectric conversion and accumulating the charge, a pixel amplifier, a charge accumulation unit for accumulating charge overflowed from the photoelectric conversion unit, and a switch for connecting the charge accumulation unit and the pixel amplifier; and an amplifier connected to the plurality of pixels, which amplifies the charge generated by the photoelectric conversion, wherein the amplifier includes an offset voltage setting unit which sets at least two offset voltages to the amplifier, and wherein the offset voltage setting unit sets a first offset voltage in an operation mode for reading out the charge accumulated in the photoelectric conversion unit while the switch is turned off, and sets a second offset voltage in an operation mode for reading out the charge overflowed from the photoelectric conversion unit and accumulated in the charge accumulation unit while the switch is turned on.