A method for driving a solid-state image pickup device comprising a pixel array unit including unit pixels which are two-dimensionally arranged in a matrix pattern, each unit pixel including a photoelectric converter, and column signal lines corresponding to respective columns of the matrix pattern, the unit pixels being selectively controlled in units of rows, and the method comprising:
- converting analog signals output from the unit pixels in a row selected by the selective control through the column signal lines to digital signals, adding the digital signals among a plurality of unit pixels, and reading the added digital signals.