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Popping a balloon filled with water –
Frame by frame (Credit: Sony) |
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Today, one can choose to take a short series of high resolution still images or shoot a video with usually up to 30 frames per second. Capturing a single frame from the recorded video will result in either a low resolution image or one which is noticeably blurred. The new Sony CMOS sensor has the potential to solve both problems – it will enable shooting continuously at a rate of 60 frames per second with a high pixel count,while the individual images that make up the moving image will have the quality of still images (prototype captured images with a resolution of 6 Mega Pixels) - blurring the line between still images and video.
Sony's idea is that the CMOS sensor will express the motion and beauty of a single moment. Allowing photographers to capture a quick series of still images in high resolution at 60 frames per second during video recording will dramatically increase the flexibility of future cameras and photographers.
The greatest strength of CMOS sensors is that by including both digital and analog circuits on the same chip, their readout speed can be made dramatically faster than that of CCDs. Sony is now working to create high-speed CMOS sensors that can easily capture events that exceed the capabilities of the human eye, literally giving the effect of freezing a moment in time.
More information on Sony's new CMOS sensor can be found on the company's website. |
