Into focus

Citation

(2000), "Into focus", Work Study, Vol. 49 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2000.07949bab.007

Into focus

Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd announces the successful development of Super CCD for the use in digital cameras. With the new generation of highly-sensitive CCD, which take over the role of conventional film in digital cameras, the image quality can be improved remarkably. Fujifilm has developed a totally new structure for this sensor, and announced also analogue/digital LSI technology that is expected to maximise the performance of Super CCD. Super CCD, with its new pixel shape and arrangement, offers a number of advantages that overcome the limits posed by the conventional CCD. Some of the outstanding characteristics are: a higher sensitivity, a higher signal-noise ratio and a wider dynamic range. Compared with a conventional two million pixel CCD, Super CCD can increase the effective number of pixels in use 1.6 times. That means Super CCD with two million pixels can produce an image quality superior to the conventional CCD with three million pixel. And the area of the photodiode in the three million pixel Super CCD is about 2.3 times as large as the area offered in conventional CCD with three million pixel. The honeycomb pixel arrangement better suits the distribution of spatial frequencies of image data in nature as well as idiosyncrasies inherent in human vision. Combined with over-sampling signal processing technologies, this allows signal zooming with little image quality deterioration. Also skipped readout of image data is possible without sacrificing image quality, thus offering high-quality full-motion video output. Unlike conventional CCD with progressive scanning capabilities that require a complex structure, the structurally simpler Super CCD can easily be adapted to function as a digital camera equipped only with electronic shutter.