Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve all been enjoying the benefits of AMOLED displays for several years now — high contrast ratios, wide viewing angles and vivid colors — so it was only a matter of time until organic films ended up in image sensors. Fujifilm and Panasonic have been working on organic CMOS image sensors and just showed the results of their collaboration at the 2013 Symposium on VLSI Technology in Kyoto. By replacing the traditional silicon photodiode with an organic photoelectric conversion layer, researchers have created image sensors with a dynamic range of 88dB (the industry’s highest), a 1.2-fold increase in sensitivity (compared to traditional designs) and a 60-degree range of incident light (vs. 30-40 degrees, typically). What does this mean in practice? Less clipping in bright scenes, better low-light performance and richer colors and textures. The companies plan to promote these new organic CMOS image sensors for use in a wide range of imaging applications, including next generation cameras and phones. We can’t wait!

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile

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Source: Fujifilm

Metamaterials are proving to be quite useful for toying with the electromagnetic spectrum, whether for technology previously thought to be the stuff of science fiction, or for boring real-world applications. Engineers at Duke University have come up something that falls more into the latter category: a metamaterial imaging sensor that doesn’t require a lens to generate a picture. The sensor is a flexible copper-plated sheet patterned with small squares that capture various light frequencies all at once, functioning like one big aperture. Add a few circuits with a pinch of software and the sensor-only camera can produce up to ten images per second, but the catch is Duke’s only works at microwave frequencies. Microwave imaging is used plenty, however, and due to its flexibility and lack of moving parts, the sensor could be used to build better integrated, cheaper airport scanners and vehicle collision avoidance technology — making you safer however you choose to travel. Unless you take the train. Then you’re on your own.

Filed under: Misc, Transportation, Science, Alt

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Via: Phys.org

Source: Science, Duke University

Red Camera’s bombastic CEO, Jim Jannard, says that internal testing of the new 6K Dragon sensor proves that it’s the new “resolution and dynamic range king.” He also claims it will be “the cleanest sensor you have ever seen, ISO 2000 looks better than MX [the current sensor] at ISO 800.” The imaging chip was first outed at NAB in April, promising 15+ stops of DR and 120fps at a full 5K of resolution, with $6,000 upgrades for Epic customers by the end of the year. Owners of the $9,700 (brain only) Scarlet-X will also get the Dragon, though no price or date has been given yet for that camera. Needless to say, some independent testing will be needed to substantiate his claims, but Jannard sure does sound confident.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Red claims Dragon is ‘single most significant sensor in the history of image capture’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 05:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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