Subscriber Discussion

How Long Till This Technology Filters Down To Us?

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Ari Erenthal
Jul 30, 2015
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Canon announced a new camera that can see in really really reeeeeally low light conditions. I can't tell you the lux rating because none of my tables go that low and I'm too lazy to do the back-of-the-envelope calculations. Instead of messing with shutter speeds or digital signal processing, they just made the pixels bigger. Bigger pixel size= more light captured. So the downside is you "only" get a 1080p image out of a full frame sensor.

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Jul 30, 2015
IPVMU Certified

0.0005 lux

JH
John Honovich
Jul 30, 2015
IPVM

That's literally the same spec as a Speco Intensifier....

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Ari Erenthal
Jul 30, 2015
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Yeah, but (theoretically) without the ghosting or the noise.

JH
John Honovich
Jul 30, 2015
IPVM

That was understated joke. I am sure that Canon will do much better. Look for it next year as the Axis Q1715 :)

(1)
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Ari Erenthal
Jul 30, 2015
Chesapeake & Midlantic

So understated, it went over my head. Previous comment withdrawn.

Thank you for respecting me enough to choose the smiley face emoticon instead of mocking me with a winky face emoticon.

(1)
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Carl Bracken
Jul 30, 2015

Interesting post I would ask the same question when can we see this technology in mainstream surveillance camera applications?

A year ago I ran across the same Cannon product development video it emphasized a development effort that suggested a new for the market BSI CMOS chip that had superior low light capabilities. Large pixels really do help if the target is dim. I have used a scientific camera at our local observatory that featured 24 micron square pixels the CCD was a Kodak chip, it was excellent at short exposure low light performance. Look up 'Back Side Illumination' to get a handle on the different sensor architecture, BSI chips in scientific cameras have been around for years my understanding is the manufacturing process is considerably more challenging and thus limited in use. I think chip builders have been working on solving the manufacturing challenge over the last few years I almost want to say a very popular cell phone on the market has a BSI CMOS sensor just not sure which one.

If Cannon has figured out how to bring the cost down to large pixel CMOS sensors perhaps the technology will filter down to cameras below $30k...Would be fun to get a sample unit and head back to the observatory!

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Aaron Saks
Jul 30, 2015

I like those nice, even frame rates. Good luck meeting a spec requiring 30fps... :)

U
Undisclosed #1
Jul 30, 2015
IPVMU Certified

59.94 > 30

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Ari Erenthal
Jul 30, 2015
Chesapeake & Midlantic

Those are all standard in the broadcast world.

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Aaron Saks
Jul 30, 2015

Right. That is the "60fps" mode. When you are in "30fps" mode, you actually only ned 29.97 fps. I am sure that there are other implications (such as lower resolution, etc.) to running in 60fps mode that would require many uses to be run in 30fps mode. Thus, if the requirement was hard and fast at 30fps, the camera could be called out....

(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Jul 30, 2015
IPVMU Certified

Related: Sharp claims to have released a (small) CCD with the "Industry's* highest visible light sensitivity" ever:

1/3" with a sensitivity of 3800mv. What that could be in lux, I don't know. And I'm all out of envelopes.

*What industry is the question, but they do talk about LPC.

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