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Why Camera Sensors Matter and How They Keep Improving

What is the most important aspect of a camera to consider when looking to buy a new one? In this video, Engadget put camera sensors in the spotlight and reviewed how they have improved and what role they play in today's photographic equipment.

Camera brands regularly release new cameras, with each model improving on its past versions. However, video producer Chris Schodt from Engadgetpoints out in the company's latest YouTube video that it may appear camera sensors haven't progressed as rapidly in the recent past, although resolution has increased. This is because modern-day cameras -- such as the Canon EOS 5D released in 2005 -- were already able to produce high-quality images over a decade ago and still continue to do so.

Camera sensors, in technical terms, can be described as a grid of photodiodes which act as a one-way valve for electrons. In CMOS sensors -- which are widely used in digital cameras that photographers use today -- each pixel has additional circuitry built into it aside from the photodiode.

These on-pixel electronics help CMOS sensors quick speed because they can read and reset quickly, although, in the past, this characteristic could also contribute to bringing up fixed-pattern noise. However, with the improvement of manufacturing processes, this side-effect has been largely eliminated in modern cameras.

Schodt explains that noise control is crucial to a camera's low light performance and dynamic range, which is a measure of the range of light captured in the image between the maximum and minimum values. In a photograph, those are between white -- such as when pixel clips or is overexposed -- and black, respectively.

Clipped or overexposed pixels in an image

In an ideal scenario, camera sensors would capture light, which is emitted as photons, in a uniform way to reconstruct a perfectly clear image. However, that isn't the case because they hit the sensor randomly.

One way to deal with this is to produce larger sensors and larger pixels, however, that comes with a large production cost and an equally large camera body, such as the Hasselblad H6D-100c digital back which has a 100MP CMOS sensor and a $26,500 price.

Other solutions include the development of Backside Illuminated sensors (BSI), such as the one announced by Nikon in 2017 and Sony first in 2015. This type of sensor leads to improved low-light performance and speed. Similarly, so does a stacked CMOS sensor that provides even faster speeds, such as the Sony Micro Four Thirds sensor published earlier in 2021.

Smartphones, on the other hand, use multiple images and average them together to improve noise and dynamic range, like the Google HDR+ with Bracketing Technology, which is also a direction that several modern video cameras have taken, too.

Looking towards the future of sensor development, Schodt explains that silicon, which is the material currently used to make sensors, is likely to stay, although some alternative materials have been used like gallium arsenide and graphene. Another possible direction is curved sensors, although they would make it difficult for users as curved sensors would need to be paired with precisely manufactured lenses. In practical terms, photographers would have to buy into a particular system with no option of using a third-party lens.

It's likely that in the future focus will be on computational photography. Faster sensors and more on-camera processing to make use of smartphone-style image stacking might make its way to dedicated cameras, for example, in addition to AI-advanced image processing.

In the video above, Schodt explains more in detail the technical build of sensors and how their characteristics correlate to the resulting images. More Engadget educational videos can be found on the company's YouTube page.

Image credits: Photos of camera sensors licensed via Depositphotos.

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Samsung to Develop a 576-Megapixel Smartphone Sensor by 2025

Hot on the heels of its recently-launched 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP1 smartphone sensor, Samsung has announced that it plans to develop a 576-megapixel smartphone sensor by 2025.

Announced during a Samsung presentation at the SEMI Europe Summit and spotted by Image Sensors World, the company made it known that it plans to be able to scale down pixels -- as it has been doing progressively since the year 2000 -- to such a degree that a 576-megapixel smartphone sensor would be possible in just four years.

As shown in the slide below, Samsung has been progressively scaling down the size of its pixels and additionally increasing their megapixel counts consistently over the last two decades, most notably since 2010. It was able to scale from 5-megapixels up to 16 megapixels in four years, then from 16-megapixels to 64-megapixels in four more years. In 2020 it created a 108-megapixel sensor and just last week announced a 200-megapixel sensor. While a 576-megapixel sensor sounds extraordinary, the company's progression to this point seems to indicate that the timeline should be more than feasible if the technology to continue to reduce the size of pixels continues to advance.

As noted by DPReview, Samsung announced that it planned to push beyond 500-megapixel sensors in April of 2020 which shows that the company has had its goals set on such resolution in smartphones for some time. The company seems to indicate that 600-megapixels is its current target for resolution in an effort to mimic what it believes to be equivalent to -- or better than -- the human eye.

"The image sensors we ourselves perceive the world through – our eyes – are said to match a resolution of around 500 megapixels (Mp). Compared to most DSLR cameras today that offer 40Mp resolution and flagship smartphones with 12Mp, we as an industry still have a long way to go to be able to match human perception capabilities," Samsung says. "Through relentless innovation, we are determined to open up endless possibilities in pixel technologies that might even deliver image sensors that can capture more detail than the human eye."

Samsung notes that it understands that smaller pixels can result in "fuzzy" or "dull" photos, and that part of the task of its engineers is not only to continue to make pixels smaller but balance that with image quality. How the company plans to do this is not revealed, but if the image quality of its new HP1 sensor stands up to scrutiny -- which will require Samsung releases image samples, which it has not yet done -- there is no reason to believe the company can't achieve these goals.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.

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