Digital BW, The Print

> From: Truman Prevatt [mailto:tprevatt@...]
>
> There has been some modifications to the sensor that goes into the SD10.
> Maybe some of the issues have been addressed. I guess we will soon see.
> The color matrix filter over an intensity CCD is basically three (or 4)
> offset sensors (one for each color) each with 1/3 (or 1/4) the the
> native resolution. the final image is produced by interpolation of these
> slightly offset images. The final  image cannot contain the information
> to produce the resolution or fidelity of the native resolution of the
> sensor. If the information is not there it can not be produced by
> interpolation no matter how sophisticated the interpolation algorithm.
> Interpolation is a smoothing process operating on the information that
> is there and cannot produce additional information. So it is somewhat
> misleading to advertise the resolution of these cameras at the native
> resolution of the sensor. It is just as valid for foveon to advertise
> their sensor as 3 X or about 10 megs as for Canon or Nikon to advertise
> theirs at the native resolution. There are a lot of shell games going on
> in the advertising of digital cameras.

Have you ever actually examined, at the pixel level, the results of the
Bayer interpolation performed by a camera like a Canon 10D? You can talk all
the theory you want, but they've developed some stunningly smart algorithms
for edge detection, etc. There's nothing misleading about calling a 6
million site sensor with a Bayer pattern a 6 megapixel sensor. The
algorithms really do work, on real-life images. It would be far more
misleading for Foveon to say that their 3 megapixel sensor has three times
the resolution as the number would suggest, and I don't believe they make
such a claim.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...