Canon claims CMOS image sensor record

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 01 September 2010 13:52

Your IT - Entertainment

Canon has developed the world's largest CMOS image sensor - a huge 202 by 205mm chip.

A general rule for electronic components is that smaller is better. Image sensors are one of the exceptions.

One of the complaints about some earlier digital cameras with high megapixel counts was that they didn't produce better photos than those of ostensibly lower specification. The issues include increased 'noise' resulting from cramming more imaging pixels into the same amount of space without otherwise improving the technology used.

Benefits of larger sensors include the collection of more light, reduced noise, and more accurate internal focussing.

And so Canon has developed what it claims to be the world's largest CMOS image sensor. With dimensions of 202 by 205mm, this isn't a component that's going to turn up in a consumer or even prosumer camera any time soon.

Where it is likely to turn up is in video cameras for recording the night sky or nocturnal animal behaviour. This is because it can capture an image in one-hundredth of the amount of light required by a 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor, which means it could be used to capture 60fps video with just 0.3 lux of illumination (approximately half the brightness of a moonlit night)

The size of the sensor presented various technical problems - see page 2.