Sony Alpha Rumors shared a juicy tidbit this morning when they announced Sony may be developing a new sensor Sony has dubbed the Active Pixel Color Sampling Sensor (APCS). Sony Alpha Rumors gave the rumor a SR4 rating, meaning the rumor came from trusted sources and will most likely be confirmed. It is expected Sony will make an announcement regarding the APCS in 2015, and as promising as the leaked spec sheets makes the sensor tech look, it might be worth the wait.
The spec sheet, below, which Sony Alpha Rumors found on CNBeta, doesn’t reveal any fine details, but it does offer some insightful statistics:
APCS is different because every pixel on the sensor is capable of grabbing full color information as apposed to Bayer type sensors which typically interpolates four pixels into one. Other added benefits include:
- Higher dynamic range and ISO’s capable of exceeding those of the Sony A7’s.
- No more moire!
- Faster processing and readout times.
- Potential to develop much higher resolution sensors without an increase in noise.
The sensor also appears to be capable of shooting at 2K resolution at a whopping 16,000 fps or 4k at 240 fps. Because the sensor saves time and resources by avoiding having to interpolate, it’s able to process data at a much faster rate making these frame rates possible.
[ via Sony Alpha Rumors | CNBeta ]
Taylor :o
Oh snap
Good. I always thought the Bayer design was woefully inefficient. It’s nice to see the potential for some real progress in sensor IQ. It’s about time the AA filter was banished forever.
Lack of Bayer interpolation on the sensor will not entirely remove moire. You get moire when high frequency changes to the subject (screens, fabric, fence posts, whatever) come close to, but don’t match the frequency of the photo sites on the sensor. This can happen without regard to whether the sensor is only capturing brightness data or full color data.
The phenomenon is, by the way, closely related to the beat sound observed when tuning a musical instrument by ear. (As the note approaches the test note, you will hear a variation in intensity that becomes slower as the notes more nearly coincide in frequency.)
Did we learn our lesson about hyping with that Canon thing a few weeks ago ?