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120 Megapixel Canon CMOS Sensor
Canon have developed a new 120 megapixel CMOS sensor that can shoot at 9.5fps and record Full HD movies. Nearly 7.5 times larger and offering a 2.4-fold improvement in resolution when compared with Canon’s highest-resolution commercial CMOS sensor of the same size, the 120 megapixel APS-H-size sensor has 13,280 x 9,184 pixels. The imaging area of the newly developed sensor measures approx. 29.2 x 20.2 mm. No word yet on exactly what Canon intend to use the new sensor for…
Canon Press Release
Canon successfully develops world’s first APS-H-size CMOS image sensor to realize record-high resolution of 120 megapixels
Canon’s newly developed CMOS sensor, featuring approx. 120 megapixels
TOKYO, August 24, 2010—Canon Inc. announced today that it has successfully developed an APS-H-size*1 CMOS image sensor that delivers an image resolution of approximately 120 megapixels (13,280 x 9,184 pixels), the world’s highest level*2 of resolution for its size.
Compared with Canon’s highest-resolution commercial CMOS sensor of the same size, comprising approximately 16.1 million pixels, the newly developed sensor features a pixel count that, at approximately 120 million pixels, is nearly 7.5 times larger and offers a 2.4-fold improvement in resolution.*3
With CMOS sensors, while high-speed readout for high pixel counts is achieved through parallel processing, an increase in parallel-processing signal counts can result in such problems as signal delays and minor deviations in timing. By modifying the method employed to control the readout circuit timing, Canon successfully achieved the high-speed readout of sensor signals. As a result, the new CMOS sensor makes possible a maximum output speed of approximately 9.5 frames per second, supporting the continuous shooting of ultra-high-resolution images.
Canon’s newly developed CMOS sensor also incorporates a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) video output capability. The sensor can output Full HD video from any approximately one-sixtieth-sized section of its total surface area.
Images captured with Canon’s newly developed approximately 120-megapixel CMOS image sensor, even when cropped or digitally magnified, maintain higher levels of definition and clarity than ever before. Additionally, the sensor enables image confirmation across a wide image area, with Full HD video viewing of a select portion of the overall frame.
Through the further development of CMOS image sensors, Canon will break new ground in the world of image expression, targeting new still images that largely surpass those made possible with film, and video movies that capitalize on the unique merits of SLR cameras, namely their high mobility and the expressive power offered through interchangeable lenses.
*1 The imaging area of the newly developed sensor measures approx. 29.2 x 20.2 mm.
*2 As of August 20, 2010. Based on a Canon study.
*3 Canon’s highest-resolution commercial CMOS sensor, employed in the company’s EOS-1Ds Mark III and EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR cameras, is equivalent to the full-frame size of the 35 mm film format and incorporates approximately 21.1 million pixels. In 2007, the company successfully developed an APS-H-size sensor with approximately 50 million pixels.
Fujifilm X-S1 Review
Samsung ST93 Review
Nikon Coolpix S4150 Review
Kodak Easyshare M5370 Review
Olympus SP-810UZ Review
Canon PowerShot S100
Fujifilm FinePix X10
Canon PowerShot SX40 HS
Nikon Coolpix AW100
Sony NEX-7
#1 Lawrence Rolograaf
Will Canon be sponsoring photographers for the mainframe computers needed to do some postprocessing on these images?
5:39 am - Tuesday, August 24, 2010
#2 Tim Parkin
I regularly process 400 megapixel images on my computer - just need a little bit more ram and a fast scratch disk (3000dpi scans of large format transparencies)
7:06 am - Tuesday, August 24, 2010
#3 London Product Photographer
Puts off upgrading computer yet again pending more enormo RAW files. Mind you bet Leaf are worried.
7:08 am - Tuesday, August 24, 2010
#4 Mladen RADMAN
Pixel peepers will be going wild.
You can cram all those mega pixels but you can't defeat fundamental physics. Big question is what is the high ISO limit/performance and how does it perform without employing signal processing that produces mush images instead of fine detail.
One more thought, if this sensor is destined for normal DSLR’s are there lenses capable of potentially resolving all that detail?
Enjoy.
1:52 pm - Tuesday, August 24, 2010
#5 Tim Parkin
As far as 'lenses are not able to resolve this detail', this isn't quite true. The best lenses we have can resolve up to 200 line pairs per mm. This is a resolution of less than 5 micron. The current 7D just about manages this with 18Mp. This sensor has 2.5 pixels for each of the 7D's single pixels.
However, because the bayer array doesn't have a pixel for each colour, the 7D really only has 4.5Mp of blue pixels (for instance) which means a pixel pitch of only 10micron.
The 120 Mp sensor will have probably 4 pixels - or one complete bayer cell - for each 5 micron pitch. This means it can handle proper full colour at a resolution of maybe 40 Megapixels..
The bayer algorithm will still interpolate some extra detail out of the file (just as it does now) so it will be interpolating *past* the nyquist limit.
2:01 pm - Tuesday, August 24, 2010
#6 Chris Gold
More interestingly, a sensor like this could produce super low noise & high dynamic range by essentially taking four pictures at once at different ISO's and combinging them into one 30MP image in the end. And that wouldn't need super lenses to be done either.
4:02 pm - Tuesday, August 24, 2010
#7 David Stevens
Pretty cool, but not practical. I can't imagine the size of the raw files, and no memory card is fast enough to write them at 10 fps anyways. I want to see someone stick their best prime on there and try to resolve 120 megapixels. And last but not least, there's the diffraction limit.. Big problem.
4:12 pm - Tuesday, August 24, 2010
#8 rob
Taking into consideration Canon's recent strides in low-light sensitivity, high-power processors and LIMITING of the pixel-count, I am pretty sure that this new sensor will not end up being just a monster super-megapixel challenger for computers, but it will be a basis for some new and/or improved technologies that will soon make their way into Canon's new cameras.
10:18 pm - Tuesday, August 24, 2010
#9 Roy | Filters
I'm pretty sure such technology wouldn't be going to the consumer market anytime soon. Maybe for scientific applications these high resolution sensors will prove useful.
10:46 pm - Wednesday, August 25, 2010
#10 Sherman Unkefer
I do not know if I am just the only one having this thoughts but I think having your own DSLR camera is the latest thing nowadays.
11:51 am - Wednesday, December 22, 2010