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Kodak increases digital camera sensitivity

With a 12-megapixel Bayer-pattern sensor, 6 million pixels are green, 3 million are red and 3 million are blue. Software reconstructs the full-colour image so each pixel has a red, green and blue component through a process called de-mosaicing.

In the high-sensitivity pattern -- as yet lacking a formal name -- half the pixels capture red, green or blue colour information, while the other half are panchromatic pixels that capture only the brightness. So a 12-megapixel sensor would have 6 million panchromatic pixels, 3 million green pixels, 1.5 million red pixels and 1.5 million blue pixels.

Different software algorithms, which typically run in an image processing chip within the camera, must be used to reconstruct a full-colour image, DeLuca said. Today that software is a little larger than the Bayer demosaicing software, but with optimisation that Kodak now is working on, it should become "comparable".

As a way to deal with low-light shooting problems, Chute said, Kodak's technology is a compelling alternative to expensive image stabilisation, which moves lens elements or the sensor to counteract camera shake, or post-processing, which uses software to try to reduce image noise.

Developing the product
Kodak plans to release the technology in several ways. First, it will build it into its own cameras, DeLuca said. Second, it will offer it and the accompanying software with the image sensors it sells to other camera makers -- both the CCD (charge-coupled device) sensors it builds itself and the CMOS (complimentary metal oxide semiconductor) sensors that IBM and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) build for it.

And it could license the technology to other companies. "We will engage in conversations with other companies as appropriate," DeLuca said.

The first prototype sensors intended for production use are scheduled to arrive in the first quarter of 2008, he said. Typically, production-quality chips arrive three to six months after, he added.

Kodak's technology has the potential to spread widely, Chute said. "But first it needs to prove itself. It can't just be a lab rat." And another possible obstacle is intellectual property. Kodak hasn't been afraid to file patent infringement suits against camera makers Olympus and Sony.

It's good that it's relatively easily to add the technology to existing cameras, Chute added, but Kodak shouldn't expect its technology to spread like wildfire. "Camera manufacturers and the photo industry tends to be very conservative. They go with what they have and make it better."