Digital BW, The Print

Do you happen to know the status of this chip and the Sigma camera using 
it. There was a lot of hype some time back but I haven't heard much 
lately. Because of the tight tolorances this has to be tricky 
fabracation issues. It is a very interesting use of the physics of 
silicon - different colors are absorbed at different depths. But the 
tolorance on this is very tight. Color balance will be a bear and it may 
have to be tweaked for each sensor.  The other issue with it is it may 
be that in the long run higher density flat sensor arrays will catch up. 
A 9 meg Bayer patter may perform just as well as a 3 meg Foveon. Only 
time will. Signal processors are getting cheaper every day. You are 
seeing a 3 x improvment every two years in processor performance. Signal 
processors are cheap and getting smaller all the time.

It wil be interesting to see how it all flushes out. But the good news 
is that there is innovation out there.

Truman

Editor P.O.V. Image Service wrote:

>
>
> Austin Franklin wrote:
>
> >>>Surely every pixel on a digital camera (except
> >>>for a few exotica) is interpolated?
> >>>     
> >>>
> >>No.
> >>   
> >>
> >
> >YES.
> > 
> >
>
> Not just "exotica" anymore --  the CCD in the Sigma is the Foveon chip..
> It reads red green and blue in each sensor well.  So, no interpolation,
> and no need for color filters to do it.. That chip has three layers of
> substrate, so each well measures one color at each level.. It doe NOT
> use a Bayer pattern.. The chip design was originally used on spy
> satellites..
>