Sony hasn’t been hiding the fact that they have been working on a new curved sensor design, the news has been out since April or so. But the first images of these curved sensors only just now made it to the web.
Sony’s New Curved Sensor, Image Courtesy Of Sony
According to Sony, these curved sensors have the same curvature as the human eye, and are 1.4 times more sensitive in the center, and 2x more sensitive in the corners than your average sensor. What makes these curved sensors so interesting is that the light from the lens hits the pixels straight on, which eliminates the need for extra glass elements in lenses. The side effect of this is that lenses can be smaller (flatter) and have wider apertures than with normal flat sensors.
Sony showed off the new sensors, a full frame version and a mobile phone version, at the 2014 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits. Rumors are that the next version of the RX1, likely to be called the RX2 may feature the full frame version of this sensor.
This could be the beginning of a major shift the the photography industry, and I, for one, am really curious to see where this all goes. Exciting times!
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What are your impressions of these new curved sensors? How do you think they will affect the photo and video industries? Leave a comment below!
[via Sony Alpha Rumors]
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Im very much looking forward to seeing the results once they are in.
This is awesome!
Another new sensor that require whole new line of “C”(curved) mount lenses from Sony? They have not catch up the full frame mirrorless “E” mount lenses yet for those who just bought them and now a whole new type of lenses? Even if the mount is compatible, the old lens will not be ideal for the new curve sensor either.
I do love how Sony is willing to invent new and improved products; however, they are also scaring the consumers away due to how few and how expensive their lenses are on individual mounts they have and how long they are going to commit to each individual lens mount.
Now THIS is innovation. If the resulting IQ is equal to or better than that produced by Canon’s 5D mk III, Sony may have me thinking brand swap. Can’t wait to see test images and reviews.
The current Sony sensors have already surpassed the Canon D5M3 sensor, in both resolution, dynamic range, color depth and noise.
I hope the successor of the A7 will feature the new sensor.
The A7s has a superb ISO performance, A9 (the rumored successor) with this baby it will be market braker.