Blog about Digital Cameras
[08/11/2010] Effective Pixels and Foveon X3
When purchasing a new digital camera, the vast majority of the users consider the camera’s resolution as one of the most important factors – after all, the more Megapixels should give you higher quality photos. Well, this is not always the case and the quality of the images depends on a number of factors and on the way the “pixels are counted.” The majority of the digital cameras are equipped with sensors that detect only one of the three “main” colors per pixel: red, blue, or green and the color filters are arranged on the square image sensor as a Bayer filter mosaic. The Bayer filter mosaic pattern contains 50% green, 25% blue, and 25% red filters and often the cameras using this color filter array have to use demosaicing effects in order to deliver better quality, but the demosaicing can cause the pictures to be smeared.
Some of the digital cameras have a different type of sensor, which is known as Foveon X3, or direct images sensor and is considered superior as it captures green, red, and blue light at each point. The Foveon X3 image sensors have three different layers, embedded in silicon, capture all the colors during a single exposure, and the images that such cameras produce are clearer and with more lifelike colors. However, some manufacturers that use Foveon X3 image sensors might advertise their camera’s resolution at three times of what it actually is since the sensor has three different layers for each color. Thus, you might end up purchasing a 12 Megapixel digital camera that would give you a quality of a 7-8 Megapixels digital camera that uses a Bayer filter sensor.
Other articles from this category:
[24/10/2010] Benefits of an Optical Viewfinder
[06/11/2010] Look for ISO 50 Support
[06/11/2010] Where is the Tripod Socket?
[06/11/2010] Dedicated Trash Can Button
[06/11/2010] Don't Stick with a dSLR Kit Lens
[06/11/2010] How Much Optical Zoom is Needed?
[06/11/2010] Uses for your Old Digital Camera
[06/11/2010] More Megapixels Means Greater Cropping Ability
[06/11/2010] Power Consumption - Motorized Zoom vs. Zooming Ring
[08/11/2010] Small Doesn't Mean Underpowered
[08/11/2010] Noise in Prosumer Versus Digital SLR Cameras
[09/11/2010] What is The Best UV Filter?
[09/11/2010] LensPen Cleaning System
[09/11/2010] Using a Lens Shade
