Patent ID: 7221397

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: a photoelectric conversion area in which a plurality of pixels are two-dimensionally arranged in horizontal and vertical directions, wherein each of said of plurality of pixels includes a photoelectric conversion element and an amplification element which amplifies a signal from said photoelectric conversion element to output the amplified signal; a plurality of first vertical output lines which output sequentially signals from the pixels arranged in the vertical direction; a plurality of second vertical output lines which output sequentially signals from the pixels arranged in the vertical direction; a first horizontal output line which outputs sequentially the signals from said plurality of first vertical output lines; a second horizontal output line which outputs sequentially the signals outputted from said plurality of second vertical output lines, wherein said first horizontal output line is arranged on a side of a first side of said photoelectric conversion area, said second horizontal output line is arranged on a side of a second side of said photoelectric conversion area, and said first side and said second side of said photoelectric conversion area are opposite to each other in the vertical direction; a plurality of first load elements, wherein at least one first load element is arranged to fix a direction of current flowing through each of said plurality of first vertical output lines; and a plurality of second load elements, wherein at least one second load element is arranged to fix a direction of current flowing through each of said plurality of second vertical output lines, and wherein said plurality of first load elements and said plurality of second load elements are arranged on sides opposite to each other with respect to said photoelectric conversion area.