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Mobile Photography Set For Major Quality Bump With Sony's 48-Megapixel Sensor (newatlas.com)
Smartphone camera sensors and lenses have to operate in a very tight space, but they continue to close the gap on full-size digital cameras year after year. Sony's new IMX586 sensor boasts a 48-megapixel resolution, the highest yet for a mobile sensor, and should be coming to a phone near you soon. From a report: That increased resolution shrinks the pixel size down to 0.8 microns, which would usually lead to lower sensitivity and poor light collection. However, thanks to some smart technology called a Quad Bayer array -- where neighboring pixels are intelligently combined -- Sony says the effective pixel size is 1.6 microns. The bigger the pixel size, the better the light capture and low-light performance. In comparison, the Google Pixel 2 -- one of the best photo-taking phones on the market right now -- has a camera with a 1.4-micron pixel size. On paper, that means Sony has managed to produce a sensor that combines a huge amount of detail with excellent light capture and low noise levels as well. We'll have to wait until the sensor is actually on the market to know for sure, but the signs are good.
Instead of cramming an ass-million pixels into your camera sensor, why don't you make a lens and sensor big enough to actually let in some light so I don't have to spend a fortune on a phone just so I can take a halfway decent night shot? Yeesh.
Actually this could be very useful for digital zoom, HDR and image stabilization. According to TFA, they include signal processing on the sensor and it would certainly used for just this.
Greed is the root of all evil.
Because consumers don't understand diffracton and false magnification but do understand a bigger number. Too bad this is only going to make the red amplification problem worse as at a pixel size of 800nm it is getting awfully close to the long range of visible red so it will capture even less of that. I would be willing to be I can capture a better quality image with my old K-2000 (10 year old 10MP DLSR) and old screw mount 8 element SMC Takumar f/1.4 but if I used my K-3 and my modern good glass (I own the 3 princesses) I would absolutely crush it. I'd even be willing to bet I could do better than this sensor with a roll of Ektar100 in my Spotmatic F using that same 50mm f/1.4 lens although it would have more noise from the grain.
That said Sony does make some damn fine sensors but no one who knows about optics and sensors really expects this to compete with even entry level DSLRs or mirror-less interchangeable lens cameras, let alone those monster digital medium formats from Hasselblad or Pentax. Instead it will be something for consumers to get into a phone pissing contest over and believe that they can take pictures just as good as a pro can.
Time to offend someone
That $7000 Nikon D5 is the see in the dark Batman camera. It's meant for photojournalists who have to shoot in often horrible conditions. Their other camera is a $5000 super resolution 45 MP that generates images with nearly 15 stops of dynamic range and in 14 bit. Both of these cameras produce images that are so far beyond what phones can do. The cameras have their sensors and Analogue to Digital converters fine tuned for their different jobs.
A few years ago one of the Chicago papers laid off all its photographers and gave their reporters iPhones. When the hockey team won the Stanley Cup guess whose front page was an embarrassment.
The sheer amount of light gathering full sized cameras can do justifies their existence.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.