[Leica] The sensor manufacturers are trying their best

[Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>]

The sensor manufacturers are trying to put bits and pieces together to make
digital cameras more useful. Phillips manufactures a six megapixel sensor,
about the size of a 35mm frame. This is a "very" expensive sensor. It is
laid out in four 1.5 megapixel quadrants. Each quadrant has it's own A/D
and is read out simultaneously. The image has to be put back together after
the data is in computer memory. We have one of these sensors here at Photo
Access for experimentation. The companies that are using this Phillips
sensor are MegaVision, Canon, and Nikon. Probably more. Anyone advertising
6MP uses this sensor.

It is still a Bayer pattern sensor and you only get 1.5 megapixels total
out. Unlike the Leica S1, which is a 25 megapixel camera delivering a full
25 million pixels of resolution. The Leica S1 will deliver a 16x20 that can
compete with film (their own words). The Phillips sensor can barely make an
11x14 that can be thought of as competing with film.

Only three weeks ago, the president of MegaVision (Ken Boydston) was
standing right here in my office. He was looking at my Cibachrome (11x14,
16x20, 20x24, & 30x40) prints and 48x60 LightJet prints. We chatted about
what digital photography was good for and that it will be a very long time
before current digital camera technology can produce what can be produced
from film. We agreed completely that digital cameras fill a necessary slot.
And are very successful doing this. He also stated that it took millions of
lines of C code to manipulate a MegaVision raw image to make it usable. And
it will still only make a good 11x14.

So from the horses mouths... comes the truth.

Jim