Patent ID: 7372494

Claim:
A solid-state image pickup apparatus for converting light incident from an object field to an electric picked-up signal and processing the electric picked-up signal to produce an image signal, comprising: a solid-state image sensor comprising an array of photosensitive cells bidimensionally arranged and converting the light to signal charges in accordance with an optical sensitivity, vertical transfer paths for vertically transferring the signal charges read out from said array of photosensitive cells, and a horizontal transfer path extending perpendicularly to said vertical transfer paths and responsive to a horizontal transfer signal for transferring the signal charges received from the vertical transfer paths in a horizontal direction to thereby output the signal charges as the picked-up signal; a selecting circuit for selecting one of a plurality of optical sensitivities which are different from each other; wherein, when higher one of the sensitivities is selected, said timing generator lowers the frequency of the horizontal transfer signal below the usual frequency; a system controller for generating a control signal in accordance with the sensitivity selected; and a timing generator for generating a timing signal for transferring the signal charges for said solid-state image sensor in accordance with the control signal; said timing generator lowering, in accordance with the sensitivity selected, a frequency of the horizontal transfer signal below a usual frequency for use in transferring the signal charges in the horizontal direction.