It’s not often you hear about image sensor breakthroughs – of almost any size and type – except from the likes of big Japanese companies like Sony and Samsung. But Chinese manufacturer Gpixel has just announced a new 8K 60fps APS-C sensor.
The Gpixel GCINE3243 is a 43-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor with a pixel resolution of 8192 x 5232 pixels, which is a hair wider than 3:2 aspect ratio. It supports 8K video at 60fps, 4K video at 120fps, with up to 14 bits of colour per channel.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many images with the announcement – and the ones that they did post are tiny – but they did provide quite a lot of information on its technical specifications, features and how they may be implemented in devices.
Built for high performance 8K video
Gpixels says that the backside-illuminated pixels in the top layer are “fully optimized” for maximum light sensitivity with as little noise as possible. The bottom CMOS wafer features an array of core cells that support high-speed 14-bit ADC and SRAM memory electronics.
It has a modest but respectable dynamic range of 81dB thanks to its dual gain (dual ISO, essentially) readout. 81dB works out to a bit more than 13 stops. For comparison, the Nikon Z9 (buy here) offers a dynamic range of 14.4 stops.
A solid new competitor?
Gpixel has been around for a little while, but not as long as its much larger competitors like Sony. It was founded in 2012 and makes image sensors for a range of different fields, such as automation and inspection, scientific and medical imaging, and, of course, photography and video.
The GCINE family is Gpixel’s product family of truly innovative products for cinematography, drones, production imaging and other video applications, utilizing backside illumination to achieve high sensitivity and exceptional dynamic range.
This isn’t the first sensor in the company’s GCINE line. It’s actually the second. And if you think 8K 60fps sounds impressive, the line was launched in December 2021 with a full-frame sensor that shoots up to 8K 120fps and 18+ stops of dynamic range.
While their latest sensor doesn’t perform quite as well as the previous GCINE sensor, it is a much more realistic sensor in terms of performance compared to other high-end cameras on the market. Except, it’s APS-C.
I doubt we’ll see this showing up in Sony bodies any time soon, but there is potential there for one of Sony’s competitors to switch out their chip supplier. Especially companies that focus in APS-C mirrorless or Super35mm video.
Price and Availability
Well, there’s no prices on this one. The chip is not a consumer chip. It’s a chip for manufacturers of electronics products such as cameras. Although, I expect if you have the capability to interface with a sensor like this, you’d be able to get your hands on one.
The company has simply said for interested parties to reach out to them about availability and their future roadmap.
[via Mirrorless Rumors]
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