Panasonic Unveils Organic CMOS Sensors with Global Shutter and 100x Sensitivity
Panasonic today announced a trio of new CMOS sensors that offer extreme dynamic range, incredible light sensitivity, and a global shutter.
100x Wider Dynamic Range
The first sensor is an industry-first organic CMOS sensor that “enables high performance of 123dB simultaneous-capture wide dynamic range.”
Panasonic says the sensor can capture a dynamic range that’s 100 times wider than current sensors. The CMOS sensor has an organic photoconductive film that allows it to see objects despite strong back-lighting. Even when strong back-lighting is present, the sensor can capture accurate and rich color tones.
Since the sensor doesn’t require multiple exposures to create the high dynamic range, it can be used to capture fast moving subjects.
Color Photos with Starlight
The second sensor announced today can see in near darkness. Using “avalanche photodiodes,” the sensor obtains 10,000x multiplication of the electrical signals, making it extremely sensitive to light and able to capture sharp color photos under starlight and other conditions with illuminance of just 0.01 lux.
Global Shutter
Finally, Panasonic has developed a “highly functional” organic CMOS sensor that features global shutter technology. By capturing every pixel of the frame at exactly the same time, the sensor avoids the rolling shutter effect that plagues most sensors used today.
“The newly developed highly functional global shutter technology contributes to high speed image sensing of moving objects without image distortion which appears in conventional shutter operation under very bright scene,” Panasonic says. The company expects the sensor to be widely used for motion capture purposes.
“Sony enjoys a market-leading 40% global share and is chasing demand for automotive applications,” reports Nikkei. “Panasonic had scaled back its presence amid declining profitability in its semiconductor business. But the prospect of growth in high-end sensors has prompted it to resume development.”
You can dig into the technical details of these three sensor technologies on the Panasonic website here, here, and here.
