To provide a solid-state imaging apparatus and a drive method thereof capable of preventing reduction of the noise suppression effect, increase in the circuit scale, and the capacity of a power supply from getting greatly high.

A transfer operation of a horizontal electric charge transfer CCD 16 of a CCD imaging element 40 is stopped for a stop period of one pixel or more by each pixel period of 2 pixels or more within a horizontal valid period, an electric charge detection capacitor 18 of the CCD imaging element is reset only for the stop period, the electric charge detection capacitor integrates a signal by each pixel for the pixel period of 2 pixels or more and provides an output of the result, the number of times of resetting the electric charge detection capacitor is decreased to obtain an optical electric charge signal by each pixel by subtracting the signal delaying the signal integrated by the electric charge detection capacitor by one pixel period from the signal integrated by the electric charge detection capacitor to output the signal by each pixel, so that the reduction in the noise suppression effect, the increase in the circuit scale, and the capacity of the power supply greatly getting high can be prevented.