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Sony’s continuing to improve their stronghold in the camera market by developing a new phone-sized sensor that’s 5x faster (from the initial snap to the final result) than traditional sensors of the same size. It’s a 17 megapixel sensor that – pending a device has sufficient hardware – can shoot video at maximum resolution with 120 frames per second.
It’s not exactly phone news, but we know Sony Ericsson have been striving to improve mobile camera quality in phones for years. The Xperia Arc is one device with a camera that impressed us and made us forget about carrying along a point-and-shoot. If that isn’t the best they have to offer, then I can’t imagine what this new sensor will be like. (Could it replace a DSLR? Nah, we won’t go that far.)
They could very well be using the sensor in their smaller point-and-shoot offerings, but you have to imagine Sony Ericsson will want to get this into one of their flagship devices whenever it’s ready. [Electronista]
And then they’ll sue you for shooting any kind of video that they don’t agree with.
I digress…
I see 3D recording technologies building on this. 120hz is a good framerate for active 3D technology.
holy hell.
I’d like to see them follow Apple’s lead and put in a bigger aperture in there. This pixel race stuff is BS.
17mp on a phone sized sensor?!? That will look like total garbage. They’re just putting that much onto cropped sensor dslr bodies. The high end point and shoots have pretty much stabilized at 10 to 12mp. Add to it that you’re packing that sensor in with a ton of other electronics and you have a recipe for mediocrity at best.
High MP is just stupid. No one ever learns! EVER! I dont need a 16000×32000 picture!!! I want one thats capable or 8mp max and great clarify and quality!
These MP wars remind me of the Ghz wars of processors back in the day P3 and P4 chips from Intel
Man that is craziness. I found a unlocked N8 nokia phone on my local craigslist, I had read that this particular phone gave amazing results with photos. I went ahead and picked it up for $200 because there is a local cell shop in my town that will give me at least $275 for it. Anywhoo, I’ve had it for about a week and don’t want to sell it because the pics are sick. Would be interesting to hear more about this.
Date?
Well if you think about i agree with most of the comments above but the only reason would want or need(im using that term very lightly) is cause your going to dispaly it on a TV/computer/ other large media device.
WOW!!!
@TK I lol’d
adryan – You definitely do not need a 17mp sensor on a phone or regular camera to do that. The specs on my current 12mp dslrs are 4256 x 2832 and 4288 x 2848. My old 10mp camera had 3872 x 2592 and my current 5mp camera on my phone has 2560х1920. Putting 17mp into a phone sized sensor is just stroking the egos of those who are totally clueless about megapixels and sensor size. The technology just isn’t there for this to be a good idea. As I said before, high end P&S cameras actually settled BACK on 10-12mp after attempting to jump up to 14mp and failing to meet expectations on quality. The sensors on those cameras are larger too. Cramming that many photosites onto such a small area is just a bad idea.
Due to
– crappy plastic lenses
– microscopic photosites
– quantum noise and noise reduction
– bayer filtering
– pocket lint on the lens cover
I would be surprised if ANY phone camera can resolve more than about 2-3 megapixels, regardless of the number of photosites on the sensor. If phone manufacturers actually cared about giving their consumers better photos instead of marketing bullshit, the things they’d upgrade would be (in order)
– the sensor size
– the lens material and formula
– the lens aperture
– stabilization systems or algorithms
I could take my old 2MP DSLR from 2002, rescale the image to 17 megapixels, and probably have better resolution and noise performance than whatever this thing Sony has invented is capable of shitting out.
@ macw – Well arent you special, bet your crap smells of roses too.