Patent ID: 7095441

Claim:
An image pick-up apparatus, comprising: a plurality of pixels, each of said pixels including at least one photoelectrically converting area for converting an optical signal from a subject into an electronic signal, wherein a plurality of first pixels included in said plurality of pixels have a first transmittance as a light transmittance to said photoelectrically converting area, a plurality of second pixels included in said plurality of pixels have a second transmittance as a light transmittance to said photoelectrically converting area, the second transmittance being higher than the first transmittance, and a light receiving area for receiving light of a pixel of said plurality of first pixels is larger than a light receiving area for receiving light of a pixel of said plurality of second pixels; wherein each of said first pixels has a plurality of photoelectrically converting areas, a common amplifying device which amplifies and outputs signals from said plurality of photoelectrically converting areas, and a plurality of first transfer switches which connect said common amplifying device to said plurality of photoelectrically converting areas, each of said second pixels has an amplifying device which amplifies and outputs signals from said photoelectrically converting area and a second transfer switch which connects said photoelectrically converting area to said amplifying device; wherein a third transfer switch transfers the signal from at least one of said photoelectrically converting areas included in one of said first pixels to said amplifying device included in one of said second pixels; and wherein a driving circuit has a first mode in which an input unit in said common amplifying device mixes the signals from said plurality of photoelectrically converting areas included in the one of said first pixels and a mixed signal is read from said common amplifying device, and a second mode in which the signal from one photoelectrically converting area among said plurality of photoelectrically converting areas included in the one of said first pixels is read from said common amplifying device included in the one of said first pixels and the signal from another photoelectrically converting area among said plurality of photoelectrically converting areas included in the one of said first pixels is read from said amplifying device included in the one of said second pixels.