1. An apparatus for electro-optically reading indicia on a target having a target surface, the indicia having elements located at a different elevation than the target surface, the apparatus comprising: a housing; a solid-state, distance imaging sensor supported by the housing and having an array of light-detecting photocells looking at a field of view that extends to the target, the distance imaging sensor including a light emitter that emits light to the target for return therefrom, and operative for capturing a target image comprised of a first set of pixels having first distance values that correspond to a first distance of the elements from the sensor, and a second set of pixels having second distance values that correspond to a second distance of the target surface from the sensor, wherein each pixel has a distance value and a light intensity value, with the distance value of each pixel determined by the delay time between the instant when light is emitted by the light emitter and the instant when return light is detected by one of the light-detecting photocells; and a controller operatively connected to the sensor and operative for reading the indicia by analyzing the distance values of multiple neighborhood pixels to distinguish between the first set of pixels and the second set of pixels within the image, said analyzing the distance values of the multiple neighborhood pixels includes finding changes in the distance values among the multiple neighborhood pixels.