4. A method of driving a solid-state imaging apparatus comprising a solid-state imaging device having a plurality of sensor
blocks arranged in a matrix for performing photoelectric conversion, a vertical transfer block for vertically transferring
signal charges read from said plurality of sensor blocks, and a horizontal transfer block for horizontally transferring the
signal charges supplied from said vertical transfer block, said method comprising the steps of:
setting selectively as an operation mode of said solid-state imaging device a first operation mode for vertically independently
transferring the signal charges read from said plurality of sensor blocks and a second operation mode for adding n (n≧2) pixels
of signal charges in said vertical transfer block for vertical transfer and adding m (m≧2) lines of signal charges in said
horizontal transfer block for horizontal transfer; and
selectively setting, in said second operation mode, the saturation signal charge quantity of said plurality of sensor blocks
to about 1/(n×m) of the saturation signal charge quantity of said plurality of sensor blocks in said first operation mode.
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