New Sensors

There has been a lot of activity in Japan about the new generation of sensors which are going to be launched soon. Some famous photographers were invited to speak to all camera manufaturers. I have no inside knowledge of the meeting.
I know professional photographers and those who work for Nikon, and Canon. What I have been told is speculation but a posibility. The next generation of camera bodies may have sensors in them whicg can be up-graded. In other words, you buy a camera body and replace the sensor, not buy a new camera. Prices have been falling, a Nikon D300 is about 150 Pounds more expensive that the K-7 at one shop. Pentax now has a MED. Format DSLR. I believe that there is a funadmental shift in technology and how Cameras will be sold and marketed.

It`s my guess that this new generation of sensor is based on the one that Kodak introduced a year or so ago. Kodak developed the Bayer pattern over 30 years ago and has been used in most sensors ever since. Essentially you have a pattern of four photosites, 2 sensitive to green light, one to red and one sensitive to blue. Kodak developed a completely new sensor from the ground up and apart from anything else the new one has done away with one of the green sensitive photosites and replaced it with one that is sensitive to all colours, Which means that it does not block any wavelengths of light making it more sensitive in low light. In addition each photosite is 50% smaller so that more can be crammed onto a given size of sensor.

Regards - Pete

I thought they were working on new sensors using black silicon technology - Have a read here

You could be right, the KAF-40000 (that is in the 645D) has the same contacts as the KAF-50100 so they can easier be changed.

I don't see the connection between new sensor technology and interchangability................................ both are good ideas, but unrelated?

The OP didn't said something about new technology only about a new generation of sensors which are interchangeable.

Or was the comment meant for jon.dc?

um, maybe its just me, been up since 4am and shouty day at work so brain is fried.... I read it as the two concepts being merged, not alternatives suggestions as to what was being worked-on! Sorry...

This was featured in the Ephotozine News page last year, But i don`t know how close it is to actual production Status. Personally i would say that it was something to keep an eye on for the future but i would imagine the first application might be for Military night vision equipment.

Regards - Pete

I had read about black silicon as well. a new generation of sensor are comming but if already have cameras with perminent sensors in them, we won't be buying a new body just to get a new sensor. If sensors can be changed, the consumers will be upgrading more often. It will be interesting to see what hits the market next.

The problem with interchangeable sensors, is that, assuming the new sensor is of a higher resolution, the camera then can't process the extra information (per photo) as quickly as it did before, so frame rates would either drop, or the buffer would fill up much more quickly, or both.

We can see that with the new 645D, which is essentially a K-7 with a comparatively massive sensor. The frame rate has dropped from 5fps to 1.1fps, 645D raw files apparently being up to 50Mb in size.

The original Kodak DSLRs had interchangeable (upgradeable) sensors, not sure how well they did. The problem is that new cameras generally come with other improvements, not just changes to the sensor.

Dan

Specialised sensors, think about B&W and infrared.

Seems it's also a problem at the sensor side and not just the processor of the camera. link

I think the sensor doesn't have enough lanes to get higher frame rates.
Besides that you always have slower frame rates because everything is bigger, the shutter needs to travel more and the mirror is larger.

http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/10/12/sionyx-brings-black-silicon-into-the-li...

Very interesting, 100-500 times more sensitive to light. Time to sell that flash.