Patent ID: 8264578

Claim:
An image sensor for electronic cameras, having a plurality of light-sensitive pixels ( 2 ) for the generation of at least one signal proportional to exposure, with the pixels ( 2 ) being coupled to a read-out circuit ( 4 ) which has at least one amplifier ( 60 , 61 , 62 ; 160 ; 260 , 261 ) and which is configured to amplify the at least one signal of a respective pixel ( 2 ) with different amplification factors to generate differently amplified signals for the at least one signal of a respective pixel ( 2 ), with the read-out circuit ( 4 ) having at least one output ( 43 , 44 ; 143 ; 243 , 244 ) to output at least some of the differently amplified signals as output signals, wherein at least three different amplification factors can be selected for the at least one signal of a respective pixel ( 2 ), with the read-out circuit ( 4 ) including a selection device ( 30 , 31 , 33 ; 130 , 131 , 133 ; 230 , 231 , 233 ) which is configured to select, in dependence on a level of the at least one signal of a respective pixel ( 2 ), the amplification factors with which the output signals of the read-out circuit ( 4 ) are amplified, wherein the number of output signals for the at least one signal of a respective pixel ( 2 ) amounts to at least two and is less than the number of the selectable amplification factors.