JPH0683400B2 - Electronic imager - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electronic image pickup apparatus used as an electronic camera or the like, and more particularly to improvement of driving means for a solid-state image pickup element in the case of still image pickup.

[Prior art]

The electronic image pickup device used as a conventional electronic camera or the like, particularly the device using the interline CCD solid-state image pickup device, is mainly used for moving image pickup in the NTSC television mode. It was 1/30 second or 1/60 second. That is, when the solid-state image sensor is driven in the frame accumulation mode to perform frame recording for the two fields A and B, only the exposure time of 1/30 second can be imaged and other exposure times can be selected. Can not. Further, when the solid-state image pickup device is driven in the field storage mode, it is only possible to take an image with an exposure time of 1/60 second. Therefore, even if an attempt is made to obtain a still image with the electronic image pickup apparatus described above, in the case of a fast-moving subject, there is a problem in that "blurring" occurs due to the effect of the so-called accumulation effect, and a clear still image cannot be obtained. . As a means to solve this point, it is possible to interpose a mechanical shutter such as a normal film camera in the optical system.However, when a mechanical shutter is used, the rising or falling speed, that is, the response speed during the opening operation of the shutter Since the exposure time is relatively slow, an error easily intervenes in the exposure time. Therefore, if the image pickup device itself can have a shutter effect, it is extremely advantageous in terms of mechanism and characteristics.

By the way, in the case of a CCD solid-state image sensor using a MOS diode as a light receiving sensor in the image sensor, that is, a photoelectric conversion element, when a high-level voltage is applied to the MOS electrode, a depletion layer is formed under the MOS electrode to accumulate photocharges. No photocharge is accumulated when a low level voltage is applied to the MOS electrode. This is because when a high level voltage is applied, photocharges are accumulated in the potential holes of the generated depletion layer due to the charge generated by the incident light, and when a low level voltage is applied, the depletion layer does not occur and the incident light is not generated. It is considered that this is because the electric charges generated by the re-bonding and disappear. Therefore, if the application period of the high level voltage is shortened, the photocharge accumulation time is shortened, and a so-called element shutter effect can be provided.

However, in the solid-state image sensor, there is a limit to the amount of photocharge that can be transferred, and the upper and lower limit width of the amount of light incident on the solid-state image sensor, which is a signal with a certain S / N or higher in the output signal, is narrow. For this reason, there is a problem that the width of the illuminance of incident light is narrow and the so-called dynamic range is narrow when the exposure time is constant.

〔Purpose〕

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic image pickup apparatus of this kind having a sufficiently wide dynamic range capable of functioning as an image pickup device.

〔Overview〕

In order to achieve the above object, the electronic image pickup device of the present invention is configured as follows. That is, after exposure of the photoelectric conversion units of the solid-state imaging device is started substantially at the same time after the discharge of the unnecessary charges, the photoelectric conversion units of the first field of the first field among these photoelectric conversion units have a predetermined first time. A first means for precedingly transferring the photocharges accumulated over a period to the charge transfer unit, and a predetermined second unit longer than the first period for the photoelectric conversion unit related to the second field. Second means for subsequently transferring the photocharges accumulated over a period of time to the charge transfer section, the photocharges related to the first field transferred to the charge transfer section by the first means, and the second means. And a third means for causing the charge transfer section to add and output the photocharge relating to the second field transferred to the charge transfer section by the means, and is configured to expand the effective dynamic range. .

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image capturing / recording unit according to an embodiment applied to the electronic camera of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1A and 1B are optical system lenses, and a diaphragm mechanism 2 is interposed between them. The diaphragm mechanism 2 is driven by an iris driver described later.

An optical image of a subject (not shown) captured through the lenses 1A and 1B and the diaphragm mechanism 2 is formed on the photoelectric conversion surface of the solid-state image sensor 3 installed at the focal position of the lens system.
As will be described later, the solid-state image sensor 3 is composed of, for example, an interline batch transfer type CCD, and converts the optical image of the subject formed on the photoelectric conversion surface into an electric signal. The output of the solid-state image sensor 3 is supplied to the color separation circuit 7 via the amplifier 4, the sampling and holding circuit 5 and the LPF 6, and is also supplied to the photometric circuit via the selection switch described later. The color separation circuit 7 separates the supplied electric signal into a luminance signal Y and color difference signals RY and BY, and supplies them to the FM modulator 8. FM modulator 8 has a luminance signal Y
And the color difference signals RY and BY in the FM
It is modulated and supplied to the recording amplifier 9. The recording amplifier 9 amplifies each FM-modulated signal and gives it to the magnetic head 10 during a period in which a writing pulse WG from a shutter / recording control circuit to be described later is given. The magnetic head 10 FM-records the supplied signal on the recording track of the magnetic disk 11.

The luminance signal Y and the color difference signal output from the color separation circuit 7
RY and BY are converted into, for example, NTSC signals by the encoder 12 and supplied to the viewfinder 13. Thus, the viewfinder 13 can monitor the content of the image pickup.

The sync pulse generator 20 has a color subcarrier frequency fsc.
A clock of 14 MHz, which is four times the frequency of the above, is generated, and a vertical drive pulse VD and a horizontal drive pulse HD are generated and supplied to the imaging system and the recording system. The clock, the vertical drive pulse VD, and the horizontal drive pulse HD sent from the terminals 21, 22, and 23 of the sync pulse generator 20 are supplied to a CCD control signal generator 24. CCD control signal generator 24 is φV
The driver, φH driver, SG driver, etc. are built in, and the vertical transfer clocks φV1, φV2,
The horizontal transfer clocks φH1, φH2 and the sensor gate pulse SG are output together with the clock. These signals are supplied to the solid-state image sensor 3 via the shutter / dynamic range controller 25. The shutter / dynamic range controller 25 operates in the still image capturing mode.
Thus, the solid-state image sensor 3 is
The signal from the CCD control signal generator 24 is supplied as it is for drive control, and in the still image capturing mode, it is converted by the shutter / dynamic range controller 25 and drive controlled by the signal. .

Further, each timing signal sent from the synchronizing pulse generator 20 is given to the color separation circuit 7 and the FM modulator 8 and is synchronized in order to match the operation timing of the imaging system with the operation timing and phase of the recording system. It is applied to one input terminal of the detector 26. A PG pulse from a rotational phase detecting pulse generator 27 attached to the magnetic disk 11 is applied to the other input end of the synchronization detector 26. Thus, the synchronization detector 26 compares the PG pulse with the synchronization pulse, and gives a signal to the motor drive circuit 28 so that the rotation speed and phase of the magnetic disk 11 always coincide with the operation timing of the image pickup system. The motor drive circuit 28 drives and controls the disk drive motor 29 based on the signal given from the detector 26. As a result, the magnetic disk 11 is
It rotates at a constant speed of 00 RPM, and one field image is recorded during one rotation.

The shutter / dynamic range controller 25 can switch the operation mode as described above by a switching command from the moving image / still image mode switch 30. The shutter / dynamic range controller 25 is also supplied with the output of the T1 / T2 controller 32 whose output is adjusted by the T1 / T2 setting device 31. T1 /
The T2 setting device 31 may be provided inside the device or may be provided on the outside surface of the device so that the operator can arbitrarily adjust it. T1 / T
The desired dynamic range or γ correction effect can be obtained by the setting operation of the 2 setting device 31. In addition, T1, T2
If the ratio is adjusted, the shutter time changes and the optimum exposure amount deviates slightly. Therefore, a signal indicating the ratio of T1 / T2 is sent from the T1 / T2 setter 31 to a measuring circuit described later to correct the operating characteristics of the photometric circuit.

The shutter dynamic range controller 25
The output from the recording control circuit 33 is also supplied. The shutter / recording control circuit 33 is triggered when it receives a release signal from the shutter release switch 34, which is an image capturing command switch, and gives a shutter operation command signal to the shutter / dynamic range controller 25 and corresponds to one field period. A write pulse WG having a width is applied to the recording amplifier 9, and the recording amplifier 9 is activated only during that period.

The shutter operation command signal is a predetermined number after the photo command accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element forming each pixel of the solid-state image sensor 3 is given by the image command command switch 34 being turned on. Transfer command for batch transfer to the charge temporary holding unit composed of a vertical shift register or the like at the time of 1, and the charge temporary holding unit is not driven at high speed during the period from the first time to the second time after a predetermined time has elapsed. In the period from the first time point to the third time point via the second time point, the discharge command for discharging the electric charge, the T1 is given to the odd field element and the even field element of the photoelectric conversion elements. , T2 setter 31 stores an accumulation command for performing light accumulation for different times, and the photocharges and even fluxes of the adjacent odd field elements accumulated by this accumulation command. A photoelectric charge Rudo element, transfer to combined addition of both charge includes a read command, etc. to be read to the charge temporary storage unit. Then, the shutter / recording control circuit 33 follows the instruction from the automatic / single shot / mode changeover switch 35 to automatically repeat the shutter operation and the single shot mode to perform the shutter operation only once when the image pickup command switch 34 is turned on. Is switched to.

The shutter / recording control circuit 33 has a continuous shooting mode switch.
36 is connected, and when this switch is turned on, the shutter / recording control circuit 33 enters the automatic mode in which the shutter operation is repeated continuously, and the shutter / dynamic range controller 25 is provided with a continuous shutter signal that enables continuous recording. Is output. In the case of this embodiment, since the shutter number of 30 times / second can be obtained, continuous shooting of 30 frames per second is possible if the access speed of the magnetic head 10 is sufficient. The continuous shooting mode switch 36 may be capable of setting the number of frames per second so that an arbitrary number of frames of 30 frames or less per second can be obtained. Further, the continuous shooting mode switch 36 may be configured to set the maximum number of continuous frames so that, for example, when 5 frames per second and a maximum of 10 frames are set, continuous shooting is performed for 2 seconds.

Next, the measurement system will be described. As the measurement information, there are a case where the output of the external photometric system 50 is used and a case where the output of the solid-state image pickup device 3 is used.
It is supposed to be done in. That is, the selection switch 38
Is switched to the solid-state image sensor 3 side as shown in the figure, the automatic / single shot mode switch 35 is set to the automatic mode. Therefore, from the image sensor 3
A video signal subjected to shutter control every field is obtained. Thus, 30 measurements per second are possible. In addition,
The photometric output of the image pickup device 3 at this time is passed through the above-mentioned 4,5, 6 and further enters the photometric circuit 39 through the switching contact of the selection switch 38. In the case of aperture metering of the aperture mechanism 2, aperture information is automatically included in the output of the image sensor 3, so that photometric calculation is performed only by the output of the image sensor 3, and the result is the shutter / recording control circuit 33. Is output to. In the case of open metering, the output of the aperture value encoder 40 attached to the aperture mechanism 2 is input to the photometric circuit 39 via the aperture control circuit 41, the photometric calculation is performed according to this aperture value, and the shutter speed is determined. To do. For example, in the case where open metering is performed with an aperture of F1.4 and recording is to be performed at F2, the shutter time T seconds during photometry is switched to 2T seconds during recording. Since the element shutter is used in this embodiment, the shutter speed can be instantaneously switched. As described above, even if a solid-state imaging device having a narrow dynamic range is used by switching the shutter speed between photometry and recording, there is an advantage that photometry in a wide range can be performed with high accuracy.

In general, the latitude of electronic cameras is significantly narrower than that of silver halide cameras, so total exposure accuracy of ± 0.1 EV or less is required, but high-precision photometry cannot be expected with conventional photometry using a photodiode and log amp. However, since the image pickup device itself can be used in this apparatus, extremely accurate complete direct photometry is possible. Further, the difference in sensitivity of the image pickup device 3 is automatically included in the photometric information. The shutter is completely electrically operated and contains almost no error. Since the shutter speed can be easily set from 1/30 second to 1/2000 second, it is possible to obtain a light amount measurement range of 30 times or more. When the range of CCD direct photometry by this element shutter control is insufficient, the photometric circuit 39 outputs CCD output over information to the selection switch 38, and the selection switch 38
Automatically switches to the external metering system side. Also, when the strobe switch 42 is turned on and automatic light control is performed when the strobe is used, the selection switch 38 is switched to the external photometry system side. In the case of a silver-salt camera, the latitude of the film is wide, so it is acceptable if there is a difference in the sensitivity of the film, but in the case of an electronic camera, the system latitude is narrow, so the variation in sensitivity of the solid-state image sensor 3 is a problem even if it is several percent. become. Also, a small error in the photometric system becomes a problem.

Therefore, the CCD sensitivity setting device 43 is provided in this device. The CCD sensitivity setting device 43 may be provided inside the device, or may be provided on the outside surface of the device so that the operator can easily perform the setting operation. A conventional setting device for backlight compensation is preferably provided separately from the CCD sensitivity setting device 43. By using the CCD sensitivity setting device 43 described above and setting it to your favorite position by taking trial shots, etc., the error of the external photometry system, the sensitivity difference of the CCD, and the error of the strobe system are canceled, and an electronic camera with a narrow latitude. Also in, high-precision photometry and exposure are possible. When the strobe 44 is a dedicated strobe, the CCD sensitivity setting unit 43 may automatically select a preset value during use. Especially in the automatic light control strobe, the light amount error tends to increase when the light emission time is short, and the accuracy can be further improved by preparing a plurality of preset values according to the expected light emission time.

The external photometric system 50 usually has a built-in log amplifier, but in order to improve the accuracy, it is better to use a linear amplifier having a plurality of gains. That is, it is preferable to switch the amplifier gain when the amplifier output is less than or equal to a predetermined value or more.

When the output of the external photometry system 50 is supplied to the photometry circuit 39,
If the aperture metering is used, calculate the shutter speed as it is,
Output to the shutter / recording control circuit 33. In the case of the open metering, the aperture value information of the encoder 40 is input to the photometric circuit 39 via the aperture control circuit 41, the shutter speed is calculated by calculating the difference between the open value and the aperture value, and the shutter / recording control circuit 33 Output.

The diaphragm mechanism 2 has a diaphragm motor as an iris driver.
45 are attached. And this motor 45 is a switch 46
The diaphragm control circuit 41 operates by receiving a control signal from the diaphragm control circuit 41. If the switch 46 is OFF, the diaphragm can be manually set, and if the switch 46 is ON, the diaphragm mechanism 2 is automatically controlled. When the moving image / still image mode designation switch 30 designates the moving image mode, the switch 46 is turned on, and the selection switch 38 is on the image sensor side. Therefore, in this case, the output of the image pickup device 3 becomes photometric information, a signal flows through the routes 3, 4, 5, 6, 38, 39, and the diaphragm mechanism 2 operates as an auto iris.

When using the auto flash, set the flash switch 42.
Turn it on. Then, the selection switch 38 is switched to the external photometry system side, and the switch 46 is turned on to set the aperture motor 45.
Operates to automatically set the aperture mechanism 2 to a predetermined aperture value, for example, F5.6.

When the image pickup command switch 34 is turned on, the strobe starts to emit light in synchronization with VD. When a metering signal of a predetermined level calculated from the aperture value comes from the external metering system 50, the metering circuit 39
A light emission stop signal is given to the strobe 44 from.

When the flash switch 42 is ON, the movie / still image mode switch 30 is set to movie mode and the accumulation time is 1/30
Seconds or 1/60 second. In particular, when performing the delight sync photography, an arbitrary shutter speed may be output from the photometry circuit 39 to the shutter / recording control circuit 33. For electronic cameras with narrow latitude, better results can be obtained by changing the shutter speed.

The output of the photometric photodiode 51 in the external photometric system 50 is output to the multi-gain amplifier 52. Amplifier 52 above
The gain of is “× 1” at the initial setting, and is “× 10”.
It changes to "× 100". The output of the amplifier 52 is the integrator 53
Is output to. The integrator 53 is reset by VD at a cycle of 1/60 sec. The output of the integrator 53 is supplied to the first and second comparators 54 and 55, and when it exceeds the threshold level H of the first comparator 54 or falls below the threshold level L of the second comparator 55, respectively. The output changes, which are pulsed by the pulsing circuits 57, 57 and input to the up / down counter 58. The initial value of the counter 58 is N. The amplifier 52
When the gain of is set to “× 1” in the initial stage, since the “× 1” gain corresponds to the maximum light amount, a pulse is output from the second comparator 55 in the normal case,
The counter output becomes N + 1, the FET switch selection mode of the gain setter changes, and the gain of the amplifier 52 becomes “× 10”.
And Even in the “× 10” range, if the voltage is lower than the lower limit level L, the counter 58 is further added, and the gain of the amplifier 52 becomes “× 100”. At this time, if the output of the integrator 53 becomes larger than the lower limit level L and becomes smaller than the upper limit level H, the photometry is terminated, and the output of the integrator 53 and the output of the counter 58 are calculated by the photometry circuit 39. Then the photodiode
When the output of 51 increases and a pulse is output from the first comparator 54 side, the counter 58 is decremented by 1, and as a result, the amplifier is
The gain of 52 returns to "x10".

That is, during photometry, the amplifier gain changes according to the amount of light, so that it is possible to obtain photometric information with high accuracy each time in a narrow range.

The resistors R1, R2, R3 of the gain adjustment resistors 61, 62, 63 are FET
It is set sufficiently higher than the ON resistance R _F of the switches 71, 72, 73. To get a gain of × 10, use FET switch 7
1 and FET switch 73 are OFF, only FET switch 72 is ON
Becomes

FIG. 2 is a specific example of the solid-state image pickup device 3 adopted in this apparatus, and shows an interline batch transfer type CCD 40. In the figure, reference numeral 41 denotes a light receiving sensor, that is, a photoelectric conversion element, which is composed of a MOS diode having color filters R, G, and B on the surface thereof, each forming one pixel. A vertical shift register 42 composed of a CCD is provided adjacent to the photoelectric conversion element 41. These vertical shift registers 42 include photoelectric conversion elements 41.
The photocharges stored in the CCD are received and sequentially transferred to the horizontal shift register 43 composed of CCD. The horizontal shift register 43 is 1
Photoelectric charges are transferred to the output unit 44 in units of horizontal scanning lines. The output unit 44 has a built-in preamplifier and amplifies a minute current and outputs it from the output terminal Vout. Each input terminal of the interline batch transfer type CCD 40 has a reset gate send gate signal SG and a vertical register transfer clock φV.
1, φV2, horizontal register transfer clock φH1, φH2, etc. are CCD
It is supplied from a driver built in the control signal generator 24.

The photocharge accumulation time in each photoelectric conversion element 41 is determined based on the timing of transferring the charges from the photoelectric conversion element 41 to the vertical shift register 42.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a part of FIG. 2 mentioned above.
As is apparent from FIG. 3, the sensor gate 45 is a common electrode commonly formed for each photoelectric conversion element 41.
Further, the vertical shift register 42 is arranged such that one that works effectively in an odd field as shown by a thin arrow and one that works effectively in an even field as shown by a thick arrow are alternately arranged. The transfer clock φV1, φV2 is commonly supplied.

Thus, the batch transfer of photocharges is performed as follows. That is, when the potentials of the respective parts in FIG. 3 are set as follows, the photocharges stored in the photoelectric conversion element 41 are transferred to the vertical shift register 42.

In odd field When sensor gate signal SG is “L” and φV1 is “H” Even field When sensor gate signal SG is “L” and φV2 is “H” Therefore sensor gate signal SG is from H level to L The change point that changes to the level is the start point of batch transfer of accumulated photocharges, and is also the start point of new photocharge accumulation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation timing when the interline batch transfer type CCD 40 is operated in a normal moving image capturing mode. In Fig. 4, VD is the vertical drive pulse, H
D is a horizontal drive pulse. The numbers "1-525" written in HD correspond to the horizontal scanning line numbers. The sensor gate signal SG changes “H” and “L” once per field. The photocharges of the photoelectric conversion element 41 are transferred to the vertical shift register 42 at the timing of the above “L” change.
That is, at this timing, the information of all the pixels in the field is transferred to the vertical shift register 42. φ
V1 and φV2 are two-phase vertical register transfer clocks, and at the same time, they are related to charge transfer from each photoelectric conversion element 41 to the vertical shift register 42. That is, in the first field, when SG becomes “L” at time t1, that is, at 1H, φV1
Becomes "H", the electric charges of all the pixels related to the image output in the first field at this time are transferred to the vertical shift register 42, and the inside of the pixel is cleared. At the same time, the accumulation of photocharges starts again. On the other hand, in the second field, since φV2 is “H” at the timing when the sensor gate signal SG becomes “L” at time t2, that is, at 275H,
At this time, the charges of all the pixels related to the image output in the second field are transferred to the vertical shift register 42.
As described above, in each field, the vertical shift register 42
The signal charge transferred to is output as a video signal immediately after that by the transfer operation of the vertical shift register 42 and the horizontal shift register 43 by φV1, φV2 and φH1, φH2. That is, in FIG. 4, "V register jump feed"
It is output as a CCD output signal from the 1st H after.

The example shown in FIG. 4 is for the frame accumulation mode.
The photocharge storage time is 1/30.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the operation timing when the interline batch transfer type CCD 40 is driven in the still image pickup mode. In FIG. 5, before time t3, driving is performed in the normal moving image mode at the same timing as the operation timing of FIG. At the first time point t3 in the present invention, when SG becomes "L", both φV1 and φV2 become "H", so that the photoelectric conversion elements 41 constituting each pixel of the odd field and the even field are stored. The generated photocharges are collectively transferred to the vertical shift register 42 in both fields.

After that, SG is set to “H”, and φV1 and φV2 are driven at a high frequency higher than a normal driving frequency, for example, 440 kHz at a high speed, whereby the charge in the vertical shift register 42 is removed to the outside and the first field, The light accumulation of the photoelectric conversion element related to the second field is started. Φ at time t4
By setting V1 to “H”, φV2 to “L”, and SG to “L”, the photocharges of the first field optically accumulated from time t3 to t4 are transferred to the vertical shift register 42. Then again
Set SG to "H" and set φV1 to "L" and φV2 at time t5.
Is set to "H", and the photocharge in the vertical shift register 42 of the first field is shifted by one stage to obtain the second field.
Move to a position equivalent to the field, and also SG "L"
Then, the photocharges of the second field optically accumulated from time t3 to t5 are transferred to the vertical shift register 42 and mixed into the same positions as the photocharges of the first field. After time t5, SG is set to "H" again, φV1 is set to "L", and φV2 is set to "H".
As it is, the transfer of the photocharges in the vertical shift register 42 is stopped until time t6, and φV1 and φV2 are driven again at the normal drive frequency from time t6 when SG should originally become “L”. From the above-mentioned time t3 in the one-field period of
The sum of the photocharges of the first field optically accumulated up to t4 and the photocharges of the second field optically accumulated from time t3 to t5 is output at the same time.

FIG. 6 is a graph in which the photocharges of the first field and the second field when operated at the drive timing of FIG. 5 are compared with the illuminance of the light receiving surface. As described above, the second field has a longer light storage time in the light receiving element than the first field, and therefore the slope is steeper. In the second field, a certain S / N can be secured in the low illuminance L1 range, and in the first field, a certain S / N can be secured in the high illuminance L2 range.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing how the dynamic range is expanded. This is a graph obtained by adding the graphs of the first field and the second field of FIG. 6, and the illuminance range where a constant S / N is obtained is L3, which is wider than L1.L2 of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart of each signal when the present apparatus is operated continuously. As shown in the figure, output signals VIDEO1 and VIDEO2 can be taken one by one in two fields.

FIG. 9 is a timing chart showing an example in which unnecessary charges in the vertical shift register 42 are first discharged and then photocharges are accumulated in each field.

As described above, in the present embodiment, not only the solid-state image pickup device has the element shutter function, but also the output signal thereof has a wide dynamic range with respect to the illuminance of the subject. A good image can be obtained in. Also, the first light accumulation time in FIG.
Since the ratio of t3 to t4 = T1 and the second light accumulation time t3 to t5 = T2 and T1 / T2 can be set arbitrarily, by providing a T1 / T2 ratio setting means outside the device, a desired dynamic range can be obtained. Alternatively, the γ characteristic effect can be obtained.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, a solid-state memory or the like may be used as the recording medium in addition to the magnetic disk. As a solid-state image sensor, IL-CCD
Besides, FT-CCD, FIT-CCD, laminated CCD and the like may be used. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an electronic image pickup apparatus of this kind having a sufficiently wide dynamic range capable of functioning as an image pickup element.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 9 are views showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image pickup recording unit when the present invention is applied to an electronic camera, and FIG. 2 is a solid-state image pickup device. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main part of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing operation timing when the solid-state image pickup device is driven in a moving image pickup mode, and FIG. Showing the operation timing when the camera is driven in the still image capturing mode, FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing the principle of expanding the dynamic range, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams showing different driving examples of the present apparatus. It is a figure which shows operation timing. 1A, 1B ... Lens, 2 ... Aperture mechanism, 3 ... Solid-state imaging device (CCD), 9 ... Recording amplifier, 10 ... Magnetic head, 11
...... Magnetic disk, 27 ...... Pulse generator for detecting rotational phase, 29 ...... Disk drive motor, 34 ...... Imaging command switch (release switch), 38 ...... Selection switch, 40
Interline batch transfer CCD, 41 Photoelectric conversion element, 42 Vertical shift register, 43 Horizontal shift register, 44 Output unit, 45 Sensor gate, external photometry system.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A photoelectric conversion section of a solid-state image pickup device, which is provided with a predetermined number of photoelectric conversion sections of a first field after the start of exposure at substantially the same time after the discharge of unnecessary charges is completed. A first means for precedingly transferring the photocharges accumulated over the first period to the charge transfer unit, and one of the photoelectric conversion units related to the second field having a predetermined length longer than the first period. Second means for subsequently transferring the photocharges accumulated over the second period to the charge transfer section, and the photocharges related to the first field transferred to the charge transfer section by the first means. The effective dynamic range is expanded by providing a third means for adding and outputting the photocharges related to the second field transferred to the charge transfer section by the second means in the charge transfer section. Electronic imaging equipment .