A solid state image pickup device in which a plurality of photoelectric conversion element pairs are disposed in a row direction and a column direction, each pair constituting one unit including two adjacent photoelectric conversion elements disposed in the column direction, wherein a pitch of pairs in the row direction is generally equal to a pitch of pairs in the column direction.
An image pickup apparatus comprises a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix form, first color filters arranged in an oblique direction for the pixels, second and third color filters arranged so that a same color is arranged in a horizontal direction, a circuit for adding together signals of two or more pixels each having the first color filter, which are adjacent to each other in an oblique direction, and a circuit for adding together the signals of two or more pixels each having the second color filter, which are arranged in a horizontal direction, and for adding together the signals of two or more pixels each having the third color filter, which are arranged in the horizontal direction.
A plurality of low-sensitivity pixels 10 and a plurality of high-sensitivity pixels 20 are arranged like a tetragonal grid respectively, and are provided in positions shifted by 1/2 of an array pitch from each other in a row direction X and a column direction Y. The detected charges of the low-sensitivity pixel 10 and the high-sensitivity pixel 20 are transferred in the column direction Y by a vertical transfer section 31. The charges of the low-sensitivity pixel 10 and the high-sensitivity pixel 20 which are adjacent to each other in the column direction are transferred through the vertical transfer sections 31 which are different from each other.
