The present invention relates to an analog front end circuit which is
preferably used for taking out an image signal from a charge coupled
device, that is used as image pickup means in an electronic camera such
as an electronic still camera, a video camera and the like. In the
present invention, an image analog signal which is produced by, for
example, the charge coupled device (CCD: not shown) is supplied to a
correlated double sampling circuit (CDS) 2 through an input terminal 1.
The image analog signal is taken out through the CDS2, and the signal
taken out from the CDS2 is supplied to an analog type programmable gain
control amplifier (PGA) 4 through a changeover switch 3. Either the gain
controlled signal by the analog PGA 4 or the signal sent from the
changeover switch 3 is selected by a changeover switch 5. The selected
signal is further supplied to, for example, a 12-bit analog digital
converter (ADC) 6. The converted digital signal is supplied to a digital
type programmable gain control amplifier (PGA) 7 comprised of, for
example, a multiplier and is then taken out from an output terminal 8. In
this manner, the noise generation and power consumption under occasional
use conditions can be minimized.