Canon Develops 250 Mpx APS-H sized CMOS sensor

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Canon Develops 250 Mpx APS-H sized CMOS sensor
In a stunning development, Canon has announced that it has been able to develop a 250 Megapixel CMOS sensor. This sensor is APS-H sized (approx. 29.2 x 20.2 mm), a sensor size which was earlier employed in Canon’s 1-D series cameras upto EOS 1D Mark IV. It may be pertinent to mention that recently Canon has released the world’s highest resolution DSLR camera in production the EOS 5DS and EOS 5DSR sporting 50 MP. So this development announcement of 250MP sensor is 5 times higher than the current highest resolution DSLR in production.

Canon has said that when this 250MP sensor is installed in a camera, it was able to capture images enabling the distinguishing of lettering on the side of an airplane flying at a distance of approximately 18 km from the shooting location. Lest our readers think that Canon has launched a new lens that can shoot closeups from 18km away, we need to clarify that this image capture employed a combination of optical and digital zooming. To read the letters written on the side of an airplane body 1/40,000th-sized area of the captured image was magnified.

Video footage captured by the camera outfitted with the approximately 250-megapixel CMOS sensor achieved a level of resolution that was approximately 125 times that of Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) video and approximately 30 times that of 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) video. The exceptionally high definition made possible by the sensor lets users crop and magnify video images without sacrificing image resolution and clarity. However, it can only record video at that resolution at 5 frames per second instead of the standard 24/25 fps.

With CMOS sensors, increases in pixel counts result in increased signal volume, which can cause such problems as signal delays and slight discrepancies in timing. The new Canon-developed CMOS sensor, however, despite its exceptionally high pixel count, achieves an ultra-high signal readout speed of 1.25 billion pixels per second, made possible through such advancements as circuit miniaturization and enhanced signal-processing technology. Accordingly, the sensor enables the capture of ultra-high-pixel-count video at a speed of five frames per second. Additionally, despite the exceptionally high pixel count, Canon applied its sensor technologies cultivated over many years to realize an architecture adapted for miniaturized pixels that delivers high-sensitivity, low-noise imaging performance.

Canon is considering the application of this technology in specialized surveillance and crime prevention tools, ultra-high-resolution measuring instruments and other industrial equipment, and the field of visual expression.