DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Samsung lets us look behind the curtain at their “pro-grade” ISOCELL HM3 smartphone camera sensor tech

May 26, 2021 by John Aldred Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Announced in mid-January, Samsung’s ISOCELL HM3 108-megapixel sensor was both a “wow!” and a “wtf?” moment for smartphone cameras. It’s an insane resolution for a smartphone, based on the raw pixel count alone, but it offers a lot of potential advantages for computational photography.

It’s only been released in the Samsung Galaxy S21 ultra so far, and it’s not yet made it into any other brand’s smartphones (but there are likely a few on the way). But Samsung has released a video “introducing” the sensor (4 months after its release) going into detail about how the sensor actually works.

Samsung opens the video stating that the ISOCELL HM3 “upgrades your smartphone into a pro-grade camera”. I’m not quite sure I’d go that far, but the tech is certainly impressive. And many of the sample images posted on the web do look quite good – for a smartphone.

The video talks goes over a bunch of the tech in the sensor and how ISOCELL 2.0 separates the pixels to enhance colour fidelity and how the barrier that surrounds each of the ~108-million individual pixels to prevent colours bleeding from one to the next. This is important when you want to try to mix information from multiple pixels as accurately as possible, as this sensor does.

Unlike the more common Quad-Bayer image sensors found in smartphones the last few years, this is “Nonapixel” technology (which is why it needs to be so high resolution). Where Quad-Bayer combines four pixels into one, this combines nine pixels into one to help further improve performance in low light conditions. Smart-ISO also helps to improve image quality by shooting low and high ISO images simultaneously to produce a single image with 12-bit colour depth for a wider dynamic range than you typically see on smartphones.

Then, of course, you’ve got 8K video, 4K video at 120fps, 1080p HD at 240fps, faster autofocus, etc, etc. I still don’t think it’s “pro-grade”, but it’s nice to take a peek into the new tech that’s going into smartphone sensors. Hopefully, more smartphone sensor tech will start to scale up to “real cameras” soon.

[via Samsung]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Samsung’s ISOCELL Plus sensor tech promises better color, sharpness and ISO performance Samsung’s crazy 200-megapixel ISOCELL smartphone camera sensor is finally official Xiaomi teases the first 64-megapixel smartphone with Samsung’s new Isocell sensor Smartphones with a new 200-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL sensor reported to be coming soon

Filed Under: news Tagged With: 108-megapixel, ISOCELL, ISOCELL 2.0, ISOCELL HM3, Samsung

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

« Mirrorless camera myths… busted? Do you agree?
These are the photo editing apps that are collecting and tracking your private data »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy