A digital camera includes a CCD imager mounted at a front with a primary color filter. An optimal shutter speed is calculated based on a camera signal outputted from the CCD imager upon a pre-exposure. Where a calculated optimal shutter speed is low, a timing generator drives the CCD imager by a pixel-mixing scheme. Charges are first read out of part of the light receiving elements and transferred in a vertical direction. When the charges are transferred by a predetermined distance, the remaining part of the light receiving elements are read out. As a result of this, the charges of a same color of color components are mixed together. That is, a filtering process is effected within the CCD imager to remove aliasing components.
A solid-state image pickup device includes photoelectric converters in row-column matrix configuration, VCCDs, one for each column, a color filter disposed above each converter to form a color filter array including layouts each including n rows, and a drive circuit for conducting readout treating (m*n) rows as one set, and selecting from the sets a plurality of units symmetrically distributed. Electric charge is read from the plural units. A first readout operation reads electric charge from a first group of rows having asymmetric distribution. A j-row transfer operation transfers the electric charge for j rows. A second readout operation reads electric charge from a second group of rows having asymmetric distribution at positions to which the electric charges are transferred by the j-row transfer operation. The electric charges are added in the VCCDs.
A solid-state image sensor includes photodiodes, which constitute pixels, shifted in position from each other and red (R), green (G) and blue (B) filter segments fitted on the photodiodes in a preselected pattern. R transfer gates, G transfer gates and B transfer gates each are connected to a particular vertical transfer electrode. Particular vertical drive pulses are fed to the electrodes to drive the transfer R, G and B transfer gates. Photodiode read pulses are applied to each of the electrodes at a particular timing on the basis of image signals output from the image sensor. Consequently, a signal charge generated in each photodiode is shifted to a particular vertical transfer path via the R, G or B transfer gate in accordance with color-by-color exposure time.
An image capturing apparatus for accurately determining a position of a main subject on an image. The image capturing apparatus for capturing a subject includes an image pick-up unit for capturing a preliminary image and a final image; a main subject recognition unit for recognizing a main subject from the subject on the preliminary image; and a main subject position determination unit for determining a position of the main subject on the final image.
A CPU 14 drives the CCD2 by switching its driving mode between an omission readout mode and a summation readout mode. Summing the signal charge of pixels in the summation readout mode offers an increased sensitivity. The omission readout mode reduces smear. The summation readout mode calls for reading out to the vertical transfer paths all red pixel signal charges of the two-color filters aligned along each vertical transfer path. While charge readout voltages are applied to a specific system of charge readout electrode systems, vertical transfer is performed to sum pixels of a like color on each vertical transfer path. Charges of the green pixels are read to the vertical transfer paths so as not to be mixed with the red signal charges. By combining vertical transfer with selective readout, pixels of the respective same colors are summed on the vertical transfer paths or the horizontal transfer path.
