Per pixel exposure Patent from Sony

[GaryLH]

A pretty interesting patent.....Sony is certainly thinking out of the box IMHO.

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-patent-discloses-groundbreaking-per-pixel-exposure-sensor/

When and if this finally comes out in a product..can't wait to c the end results..

Gary

 

[DominikDUK]

It seems that sony tries to mimic film. But I doubt that it will work with every single Pixel as the link Claims.

 

[f16sunshine]

It's very interesting. This could really change how we look at setting exposure.
Can you imagine what a manual exposure system could look like with this sensor?
Thanks for Posting !

 

[jschrader]

I don't get it

I don't get it

the thing in photography is that dark spots do get less light then bright spots.
What is the point about this? If every pixel gets into zone V, in Adams-speak, I can take a photo of a Kodak grey card. It is all the same.

Can someone explain why this is so great?

 

[jschrader]

sorry, I got it

sorry, I got it

the point is not that every pixel defines its own exposure (and "gets into zone V") but the sensor contains high and low sensitivity pixels. HDR build into the hardware. So, say, 40 megapixels are not divided into 20 green, 10 blue and 10 red pixels, but 10 green high speed, 10 green low speed, 5 blue high speed, and so on.

An interesting way to make use of the ever-increasing megapixel number. :angel:

 

[GaryLH]

A grey card averages out the light info...the extremes that cannot be handled by the sensor is averaged out. Using a grey card is then the photographers choice in deciding what is important part of the picture that needs the critical exposure info.

If u have the time to use a grey card, it is effective for most situations.

The issue this is trying to solve i believe ... The area that are too dark and too bright has a chance to be viewable, since there are both long and short exposure cells that are have individual info about the scene. The last part of the patent seems to integrate the info from all the sensors..

W/ The new electronic shutters, there no mechanical shutter involved, so u are reading the light info from individual photosites. This current done on a uniform exposure info gather by the camera either in spot, average and matrix.

This patent is doing it at the cell level in terms on how much light to allow at each individual photosite. The info from the long and short exposure is later integrated in a HDR like algo. The end result has the potential of proving much more dynamic range in the picture.

What I am confused about is if this can only be done by electronic shutter or can a normal shutter be used. At the cell level, it stops gathering light at the prescribed time whether long or short exposure pixel.

Anyway, my interpretation can be wrong. Just thought this was an interesting patent. Someone thinking out of the box..

Gary

Ps. Saw your updated post too late. Must have happened while I was typing.

 

[mfogiel]

I never thought the Japanese could patent the Kodak 18% gray card....
The point is, instead of making images with more bit depth, they want to mimic it by pulling in the curve in the highlights.
If they at least left the shadows in peace... Think of it: perfectly insipid images of everything, like using meniscus lenses...