Kodak Claims Major Color Filter Advance

[Jerry Jones]

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=O33JZUIQSUBZ4QSNDLSCKHA?articleID=199904259

From EETimes.com:

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Eastman Kodak Co. unveiled Thursday (June 14) what it says are "next-generation color filter patterns" designed to more than double the light sensitivity of CMOS or CCD image sensors used in camera phones or digital still cameras.

I wonder if this will have an impact on video camcorders.

Or will it only affect still image cameras?

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[wkulecz]

I don't see how a one or two stop improvement in sensor sensitivity could be anything but a boon to video -- low light performance is one of the major issues between the high end and low end camcorders. The relatively low resolution of video sensors compared to still cameras means it should find its way into video quickly unless Kodak gets greedy with the licensing or the signal processing required is too complex for the contineous 30fps of video.

--wally.

[Brian Ellis]

Is there anything new here? Separate luminance and chrominance signal treatment have been known since the 1950s and a 4 image orthicon studio camera was made (I think by EMI) c. 1950. It had, if I remember correctly, a 4" IO tube for the luminance signal and 3 3"ones for the chrominance. The luma tube ensured best compatibility with the monochrome sets and had a full bandwidth amplifier, while the 3 colour tubes had limited bandwidth amplifiers. Of course, this technique was before anyone thought of making the luma signal by a judicious mix of parts of the three chroma signals. I remember this quite well as I referenced the technique in my degree dissertation. I nearly got a job with the EMI camera tube research department after graduation, but I had to refuse as the offered salary was too low and Middlesex was an expensive mindless dump: got a job with Pye in Cambridge instead!!!

[Jerry Jones]

What appears to be "new" is the extra pixel that Kodak is said to be utilizing:

the new technology adds a "fourth pixel, which has no pigment on top," said Michael DeLuca, market segment manager responsible for image sensor solutions at Eastman Kodak. Such "transparent" pixels—sensitive to all visible wavelengths—are designed to absorb light.

But there's a question about how much more processing overhead might be required for this to work:

Unlike the well-understood Bayer pattern, "with these new patterns where you have pixels with no color information...it has to be harder to make an educated guess," Henning said. InfoTrends' Lee agreed. "Kodak has not said whether this [will require] more or less processing than today's Bayer pattern," Lee said.

But -- if this does lead to success -- then I suspect it might indeed have an impact on camcorders and not just still image cameras.

The story was carried by my local newspaper's business section today.

That article suggested this new design will be ready in 2008.

If true, then camcorder designs might follow soon thereafter.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net