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- Newsgroups: rec.video
- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!spool.mu.edu!agate!ames!data.nas.nasa.gov!taligent!Jay_Tobias@taligent.com
- From: Jay_Tobias@taligent.com (Jay Tobias)
- Subject: CCD Size Revisited
- Message-ID: <Bzs4zn.Ew9@taligent.com>
- Sender: usenet@taligent.com (More Bytes Than You Can Read)
- Organization: Taligent
- Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 20:02:11 GMT
- Lines: 19
-
- There were some earlier discussions about CCD size. Hopefully this information
- helps to gain understanding about the topic.
-
- "The Chip Game," by Loren Alldrin, Videomaker, October 1992
-
- In this article the image sensor, known as a CCD, is explained and its history
- of evolution recounted. It talks about how CCD chips are manufactured and
- specified total vs. active pixels. Modern problems include diminishing surface
- per pixel, as CCD size has shrunk from 2/3" to 1/2" and now to 1/3". Since a
- 1/3" chip has half the surface area of a 1/2" chip, tiny microlenses have been
- placed over each pixel, increasing its effective size without worrying about
- optical purity. Placing support ciruits beneath the pixels has also helped by
- increasing the proportion of the chip utilized for light gathering. Together
- these advances have made some 1/3" CCD chips better than their 1/2" predecessors
- with respects to vidoe noise, dynamic range, sensitivity and color accuracy,
- resulting in smaller, lighter camcorders with stunning image quality.
-
- Also covered are topics of Simulated Shutter, use of multiple CCD chips, and
- future advances such as 1/4" CCD.
-