A solid state imaging element comprises: photoelectric conversion elements; a plurality of vertical electric charge transfer passages that transfer, in a vertical direction, electric charges generated by the photoelectric conversion elements; and a horizontal electric charge transfer passage that transfers, in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the vertical direction, the electric charges transferred in the vertical electric charge transfer passage, wherein the horizontal electric charge transfer passage comprises a plurality of electric charge transferring stages each of which operates as an electric charge accumulating region or a barrier region according to a level of an applied voltage, and each of said plurality of electric charge transferring stages is connected to plural ones of the vertical electric charge transfer passages.