Patent ID: 8922668

Claim:
A solid-state image sensing element comprising: a pixel array portion in which a plurality of pixels each including a photoelectric converter are arranged two-dimensionally; a reference level generation unit configured to generate a temporally changing reference level; a plurality of readout circuits configured to read out analog pixel signals from the pixel array portion, each of the readout circuits including an A/D conversion circuit which converts an analog pixel signal from a corresponding column of the pixel array portion into a digital pixel signal, each A/D conversion circuit performing A/D conversion by comparing, with a comparison unit, a signal level of the analog pixel signal from the corresponding column of the pixel array portion with the temporally changing reference level; a capacitance corresponding to the respective column of the pixel array; and a control unit configured to connect the corresponding capacitance to the output of the comparison unit in accordance with the signal level of the analog pixel signal from the pixel array portion, wherein the control unit, when the signal level of the analog pixel signal from the pixel array portion is lower than a threshold level, causes the comparison unit to perform comparison with a first capacitance value of the capacitance, and, when the signal level of the analog pixel signal from the pixel array portion is higher than the threshold level, causes the comparison unit to perform comparison with a second capacitance value of the capacitance smaller than the first capacitance value.