Sony announces Industry 1st stacked CMOS sensor with hybrid autofocus and 3-axis stabilization

Following from last year’s announcement that they were raising 440 billion yen (nearly $4 billion) to further development and production of new sensor technology, Sony have started to reveal the fruits of their labor with the announcement of their new IMX318 sensor.

Aimed squarely at the mobile devices market and with a pixel size of only 1.0μm, they’re able to pack an impressive 22.5MP into a sensor that has a diagonal of only 6.858mm.

Boasting a more compact size, greater image quality and higher performance, the IMX318 is the industry’s first to be equipped with built in high-speed hybrid autofocus system, able to lock on to a subject as quickly as only 0.3 seconds.

It also contains 3-axis electronic image stabilization for video, which is capable of shooting up to 4K at 30fps, and 1080p at up to 120fps.

Sony have also said that despite the new sensor’s smaller size, there is no drop in image quality from the IMX318’s predecessor, the IMX230, used in devices such as the Motorola Droid Turbo 2 as well as Sony’s own Experia Z3+.

Sony plan to start shipping out to manufacturers in March 2016, so hopefully we’ll start to see and use it in phones not too much long after.

Find out more in Sony’s press release.

UncleNine

Any chance they’ll be in Nikon cameras?
- Kaouthia
  
  I doubt it, at least not this specific sensor. These are teeny tiny sensors for mobile devices. 🙂
  - UncleNine
    
    Thanks. But the tiny size of the sensor is really irrelevant, isn’t it? It’s the specs that matter. The resolution and color rendition and so on. The most tantalizing aspect to me is the image stabilization. Very impressive.
    
    There should certainly be some way for the in-camera software to make the lenses “think” the sensor is larger, right?
    - Kaouthia
      
      I’m not sure how well the stabilisation would scale up. Going from a sensor with a diagonal of a little over 6mm to a full frame sensor with a diagonal of just over 43mm means that it would have to correct for much more movement.
      
      For larger sensors, I’ve personally always preferred stabilisation in the lens, as it’s tailored to that specific lens, regardless of the camera used, whereas in-camera stabilisation has varying levels of reliable performance with different lenses.
      
      Of course, the latter does have the benefit of working (to some degree) with all lenses mounted on that camera.
      - UncleNine
        
        Thanks again. Good points. It does irritate me though, that cell-phone cameras have gotten so darn good 🙂