(Page 1 of 1 pages for this article )

Filed under: Cameras •GentryMedia Sister Sites •ProVideo Coalition •Hardware •NAB 2011 •Production •Vendor Channels •Sony •

Investing in image sensors

The new F65 digital motion picture camera would not have been possible without major Sony advances in CMOS image sensor technology.

Ordinarily, it’s hard to see the connection between stuff that directors of photography might be expected to care about (exposure latitude, highlight handling, low-light sensitivity) and $1.7 billion in investments.  But when the money goes to Sony CMOS image sensors, the investments become a little more relevant.  Recent Sony sensors have been headline news.  It started with the launch of the award-winning PMW-F3 camcorder, which also marked the debut of a new Sony Super 35mm Exmor CMOS image sensor.  Then came the long-hinted-at 8K sensor of the award-winning F65 camera, another Super 35mm Exmor CMOS design.  And then Sony announced, that oh by the way, the NEX-FS100U, another award winner, features the same image sensor as F3.  Sony is now actively building on these successes. 

Double your fun

Already a world leader in image sensor production, Sony has announced plans to double capacity by the end of March 2012.  We’re acquiring a semiconductor factory from Toshiba, converting the plant to CMOS wafer production and reinvesting in our Nagasaki Technology Center, all to the tune of 100 billion yen, or $1.2 billion. 

The jewel in the crown

Nothing symbolizes Sony’s commitment to image sensors quite like our Kumamoto Technology Center, about 50 miles from Nagasaki.  As a select group of journalists found out this March, the site is jaw-dropping not only for its technology but also for its scale.  The floor area is 195,000 square meters, the equivalent of 36 football fields.  In September, Sony announced an investment of 40 billion yen ($500 million) to increase Kumamoto’s production of Exmor and Exmor R CMOS sensors. 

The façade only hints at the scale of image sensor production in Kumamoto. 

First enthusiasm, then investment

At Sony, risking unthinkably large sums of money on semiconductor image sensors is nothing new.  Sony is a leader in both CCD and CMOS production, thanks in part to a concentrated program of research, development and business investment that dates back to 1973.  Inspired by the opportunity to create an electronic substitute for photo film, Sony’s then-president Kazuo Iwama set the company on the course to developing CCDs.  It wasn’t easy.  In fact, it took 12 years and $100 million before Sony’s first commercial CCDs reached the market. 

Better sensors make better cameras

When you can roll your own image sensors, good things happen.  The PMW-F3 is a case in point.  Where others are adapting still camera sensors to moving pictures, the F3 incorporates a Super 35mm Exmor CMOS sensor purpose-designed for motion pictures.  This minimizes still camera headaches like aliasing and moiré.  Individual photosites are four times the size of typical DSLR photosites for superior low-light performance.  The Super 35mm sensor also features roughly twice the area of Micro Four Thirds format sensors, for easier wide-angle coverage and better depth of focus control.  People are taking notice.  Not only is the F3 a runaway sales success, but it won an NAB Best of Show Vidy award from Videography and a 2011 NAB Pick Hit award from Broadcast Engineering. 

The Sony F65 redefines resolution with another Super 35mm Exmor CMOS design that features 20 megapixels in the “Q67” diamond pattern.  Say hello to 8K resolution.  This is also the first digital motion picture image sensor with a dedicated green photosite for every pixel in the 4K raster.  And there’s more to great imagery than resolution: the camera achieves uncommonly broad exposure latitude.  At NAB, visitors flocked to a darkened theater where they could see the world’s first F65 short, “The Arrival,” shot by Curtis Clark, ASC.  Many DPs commented on the available-light exterior night shots, sunlit shots in the atrium of Los Angeles’s well-loved Bradbury Building and a dramatic out-the-window shot of the city at night.  At NAB, the F65 won a Mario Award from TV Technology. 

Finally, the NEX-FS100U NXCAM Super 35mm camcorder does what DSLRs don’t, delivering the unique advantages of the PMW-F3 image sensor at a very attractive price.  The FS100U also scored big at NAB, with a Black Diamond award from DV magazine.

The Sony F3, F65 and FS100U may have left NAB with a shelf full of laurels, but don’t expect Sony to rest on them. 

We’ve got $1.7 billion that says that we’re focused on the future.

Disclosure, to comply with the FTC’s rules 16 CFR Part 255 This article was either written by Sony employees or for Sony by an outside contractor. It is intended for the Sony Channel on ProVideo Coalition, which Sony sponsors.

(Page 1 of 1 pages for this article )

When Sony expects to deliver a CMOS sensor with global shutter? When such sensors will be available in prosumer and consumer camcorders?

The industry seems to go in a wrong direction, increasing the resolution and pushing 3D, while I am fine with 1080p, I want progressive, high frame rate, with no image artifacts. I hate jello, and now I see it even in high-budget programs like Top Gear, this is pitiful. Sony spent a ton of money perfecting CCDs, now what?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  05/21  at  07:40 PM

---

Is it just me, or is naming a camera with a 35mm motion-picture size chip the “F65” confusing? I would expect the F65 to have a 65mm format chip, since the F35 had a 35mm chip (I suppose the F23 could be seen as referring to 2/3”, as well).

Bad branding… Should have either been the F35 mkII, or just start a new naming convention.

Posted by Charles Angus  on  05/22  at  12:42 AM

---

@Burn-E - It’s not mentioned in this article, but I’ve read elsewhere that there will be an optional mechanical shutter that apparently eliminates rolling shutter artefacts.

Posted by Charles Angus  on  05/22  at  12:44 AM

---

Mechanical shutter? On a video camera? Maybe on those huge cine-style ones that weigh, like, 50 pounds or more, it won’t make much difference. I do not use these, so the brilliant combination of 19-th and 21-st century technology is of no use for me. Some other companies like Dalsa actually already offer CMOS-based cameras with global shutter: http://www.dalsa.com/mv/products/cameras/family.aspx?fam=Falcon

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  05/22  at  01:01 AM

---

I don’t know what you mean by, “huge cine-style cameras” - from what I’ve seen, the F65 is smaller than an F900…

And look at how DALSA is doing on the camera market these days. There’s probably some obscure engineering reason why everyone uses rolling shutters.

Don’t get me wrong - I would vastly prefer a global shutter myself. But if Sony, Panasonic, Red and Vision Research (ok, not all their cams, but some of them) use rolling shutters, there must be a reason.

Posted by Charles Angus  on  05/22  at  01:04 AM

---

Do you mean, you’ve heard about mechanical shutter for the F65? In any case, I am not a filmmaker, I use handheld cameras, and mechanical shutter just seems plain wrong to me in this form-factor. I know people who shoot timelapses, and they went through several shutter replacements in their DSLRs. Maybe the mechanical shutter on the video camera will be a more robust rotating type, but then it will be a royal pain to change shutter speed. This is not a freaking film camera! And we live in 21-st century after all.

Sony, Panasonic, Canon, et al use rolling shutter because it is a cheap solution. Because one of the selling points of switching from CCD to CMOS sensors(not sure whether CCD can be based on CMOS technology, but anyway) was simplified schematics. A CCD collects charges for the whole frame in buckets, while a CMOS sensor sends data to a processing unit right away, whoa, huge savings. Now we are paying for those savings with horrible image artifacts.

So, if “resting on laurels is not in the playbook”, I wonder what IS in the playbook.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  05/22  at  01:17 AM

---

This SONY investment is why the likes of Canon and RED et al…. need to keep their foot on the gas.  SONY has no intention
of letting this single chip video camera market fall to the competition without a serious effort.  They can R&D and produce anything that want out of there. 

I figure Canon pretty much has to more or less pull back their video emphasis from the DSLR form factor and put it into a single chip video camera to fill the space perviously held by their XL or XH line.  It really makes no sense to keep pushing the hybrid envelope with its always going to fall short of a camera dedicated to shooting video.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  05/22  at  08:25 AM

---

Canon is going to keep the HDslr movement going because there selling a ton of cameras to the indie/low budget film world.

Posted by Camera man Carl  on  05/22  at  09:22 PM

---

Thanks for your comments.  Regarding the F65 mechanical rotary shutter, this has already been announced as an option.  Check out the press release at http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/ext/BroadcastandBusiness/minisites/NAB2011/files/Sony_F65_Camera_NAB_2011.pdf.

Regarding the F65 size, while detailed specs have not been published, it’s in the same ballpark as the F35, which as has been noted is smaller than an F900. You can also get a fair idea by looking at the behind-the-scenes video at http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/video/channels-cinealta/video-cinealta_f65_the_arrival_behind_scenes/.

Regarding the F65 model number, it reflects the aspiration that 35mm film is no longer the design target, it’s 65mm film.

Posted by The Sony Tech Guy  on  05/25  at  08:10 AM

---

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: