Patent ID: 8520109

Claim:
A solid-state image pickup apparatus comprising: a first conversion element configured to generate a first electron by photoelectric conversion; a second conversion element configured to generate a second electron by photoelectric conversion; a floating node for common use; a first transistor configured to transfer the first electron to the floating node; a second transistor configured to transfer the second electron to the floating node; and a reset transistor configured to reset the electron on the floating node, the solid-state image pickup apparatus having: a first reset period in which the electron on the floating node is reset sequentially by a plurality of reset voltages before the first electron is transferred to the floating node; and a second reset period in which the electron on the floating node is reset by a first reset voltage after the first electron is transferred to the floating node and before the second electron is transferred to the floating node, wherein the first reset period and the second reset period are different in length, and wherein the first reset period includes a first sub-period in which resetting is performed by a highest reset voltage of the plurality of reset voltages, and the second reset period includes a second sub-period in which resetting is performed by the first reset voltage, wherein these two sub-periods are substantially equal in length.