Coming Sony Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor

[BJL]

Sony has announced that it has a new "Exmor APS HD CMOS" sensor coming, offering 1920x1080 resolution AVCHD video in coming DSLRs and in Sony's forthcoming "mirror-less alpha" system. Hopefully this will also lead to improved video in the next generation of Nikon DX and Pentax DSLR's, and the sensor will have some features more specifically designed for video, like the Panasonic GH1 sensor seems to.

At a guess this sensor will have significantly more than 12MP, because once you use every third line from a 12MP in 3:2 shape, the 16:9 image has barely more than 720 lines of resolution, making 1080p or 1080i an upsampled marketing stunt. (22MP is needed to get full 1920x1080 from the every third line method, but with 15MP or more, upsampling to 1080 lines seems worthwhile to avoid downressing to 720p.)

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1002/10022103sony2010.asp

[fredjeang]

That's a very good news really.
You mentionned Pentax, I hope so if Pentax keep going with sony. I did not like very much the Samsung sensor, but since they moved to Sony with the KX, image quality increased to a point that K7 users are claiming a "new K7" with the Sony sensor.

I really hope they will stay with Sony.

mmm...it seems we are moving towards interesting gear very soon.

Fred.

[BJL]

A somewhat reliable, industry connected source (Joe Wisniewski) indicates that this new Sony "HD" sensor will do full binning in both directions on-chip for downsampling to video resolution, so using all photosites, not every third line as with all DSLR video modes so far.
(And that Nikon is field testing prototype bodies with this feature.)

If so, it should deliver better than any DSLR so far on the low-light performance promise of "affordable big sensor video", and have less aliasing issues.