A solid-state image-taking system including a gate voltage control unit 31 and a substrate voltage control unit 32, for preventing generation of a defective image such as a residual image, without increasing the read voltage. The gate voltage control unit 31 applies the read voltage to the gate electrode 17 during the read period. The substrate voltage control unit 32 applies a stationary reverse bias voltage steadily to the semiconductor substrate 11 to cause electric charge excessively stored in the light-to-electric conversion unit 14 to overflow to a side of the semiconductor substrate 11, and not to the charge storage unit 13, and applies, during part or all of the read period, a specific reverse bias voltage that raises a potential barrier between the semiconductor substrate 11 and the well 12 to be higher than a height thereof when the stationary reverse bias voltage is applied.