Re: recommendation for digital camera -=> Shameless Nikon plug
Micha Feigin <michf@post.tau.ac.il> writes:
> On Tue, Jul 20, 2004 at 08:53:23PM -0500, Alan Shutko wrote:
>> There's one CCD cell per image pixel, with the exception of the D1x,
>> which has a strange layout[1].
> There is no way that this can be true physically.
Of course there is, since that's the way the world works. You don't
think so, because you're wrong. You've managed to acquire a good
theoretical understanding of Bayer while completely missing the
crucial bit that you neither need nor want four adjacent photo sites
per output image pixel. (A miracle of modern education.) In real
cameras, each pixel gets color info that it's missing by interpolating
from its neighbors.
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Camera_System/Color_Filter_Array_01.htm
Before you try to argue this point again, find one camera that works
the way you suggest, or one website that explains that Bayer cameras
have 4 photo sites per output pixel. Otherwise, don't confuse people
who haven't learned not to listen to you yet.
As an aside, the reason you don't want to have four adjacent Bayer'd
CCD cells per output pixel is that the decreased CCD size would
result in more noise, canceling out the benefit you would get from
slightly better color resolution.
The Foveon chips do have four photo sites per pixel, allowing true
color detection, but they're stacked, not adjacent.
> As a side note, what could be interesting is if you could disable or
> remove the color mask to get 4 times the resolution on B/W pictures.
Kodak used to offer one of their DSLRs with and without the color
filter. The DCS760 was color, the DCS760M was B/W, lacking the
filter. But both output the same 3032 x 2008 file (gee, looks awfully
close to the resolution of the CCD, doesn't it?) and the somewhat
increased luminance resolution in the b/w wasn't interesting enough
for photographers to buy enough. Kodak doesn't offer them anymore.
(I'm pretty sure there are monochrome digital backs, but those are an
entirely different price range.)
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/cameras/dcs760/specs.jhtml?id=0.1.18.18.3.26.3.20.14&lc=en
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/cameras/dcs760M/specs.jhtml?id=0.1.18.18.3.26.3.20.20.3.4&lc=en
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Kodak/kodak_dcs760.asp
--
Alan Shutko <ats@acm.org> - I am the rocks.
Cats land on their feet, but at 10 stories, it doesn't matter.
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