Patent ID: 7336301

Claim:
A solid-state image pickup apparatus comprising: a solid-state image sensor comprising a plurality of photosensitive cells arranged in a two-dimensional array for converting incident light to electric signals, each of said plurality of photosensitive cells including a main region and a subregion smaller in area than said main region; a shutter for adjusting an end of an exposure time over which light incident to said solid-state image sensor is subject to photoelectric transduction; a sensitivity control circuit for comparing actual sensitivity of each of said subregions for a predetermined quantity of light with predetermined sensitivity of the subregion for the predetermined quantity of incident light to determine a sensitivity error and compensating for the sensitivity error, wherein the sensitivity control circuit controls said exposure time over said subregions to adjust the predetermined sensitivity of the subregion in terms of a correction ratio between the quantities of light incident to the main and subregions; and a system controller for controlling, in response to an image pickup operation meant for said solid-state image sensor, said sensitivity control circuit in accordance with a direction of the sensitivity error.