Patent ID: 7576788

Claim:
A solid-state image pickup apparatus comprising: a plurality of amplifying transistors each of whose gate potential is changed according to a quantity of a signal charge generated in a photoelectric conversion element; a plurality of vertical output lines each of which reads out a change of a source potential of one of the amplifying transistors, based on a change of the gate potential of the amplifying transistor; load transistors that supply current to the amplifying transistors provided on the plurality of vertical output lines; and a clipping circuit provided on the plurality of the vertical output lines that performs a clipping operation in response to a changing of the potential of the plurality of vertical output lines to exceed a predetermined value, and wherein the clipping circuit is made active to perform the clipping operation during a time period for reading out, through the plurality of vertical output lines, the change of the source potential of one of the amplifying transistors, which is based on the signal charge generated in the photoelectric conversion element.