Advanced technologies in digital photography
Thanks to an effective software product development process the digital photography technologies are developing very quickly and actively. Cameras are getting smaller and pictures are getting better. The question: “Will digital photography replace film cameras?” Is replaced by another: “When?”
Modern digital cameras have already reached such a level of development that the quality of shooting with a good digital camera with decent optics and a matrix is in no way inferior to the quality of pictures taken with a good film camera. In addition, digital photography has given humanity a lot of additional opportunities for creativity: from simple image processing on a computer to fundamentally new shooting techniques. Until now, we have not had the opportunity to spend tens or even hundreds of frames in order to then choose the best one in a calm atmosphere, and maybe even assemble it from several images.
The development of digital photography is gaining momentum, and a number of manufacturers have already decided to abandon traditional film cameras. Perhaps then, so as not to be distracted from the development of digital technologies.
Also because of the improvements in electronic manufacturing and how does asset tracking work today we can be sure that digital technologies will improve constantly. Without pretending to be complete, we have selected some of the most promising technologies that currently reflect the development trends in digital photography. Technologies from different fields, all focused on improving different shooting parameters.
Improving matrices
The most important element of a digital camera is the light-sensitive matrix or sensor that captures the picture. Due to the constant improvement of matrices, we have a simultaneous increase in the quality of images, a reduction in the cost of devices and the appearance of compact cameras.
However, speaking about the prospects of this technology, it is worth mentioning one of the most important problems of sensors. During shooting, each element of the matrix captures light within a certain intensity, which means that very light areas will look just white in the finished image, and very dark areas will turn into black. The limits of the permissible light intensity are called the complex expression “dynamic range”. That is, the wider the dynamic range of your camera, the more detailed the finished shot will be.
The need to expand the dynamic range pushed camera developers to the idea of creating a two-layer image. Fujifilm has developed a dedicated SuperCCD SR sensor. The dynamic range of such a matrix is increased four times compared to other sensors. The developers have achieved such impressive results thanks to a fundamentally new approach to creating sensors.
The matrix consists of two types of photosensitive elements. Some of them are standard, that is, the same as in all other cameras. Others have a reduced light sensitivity and are able to capture details even in the glare of the subject. Each part of the photosensitive elements captures the same picture, that is, at the output we have two images: one of them is standard (it would be so without using this technology), and the other is darker. The camera processor, receiving both images, glues them together using a special algorithm. As a result, the dynamic range reaches hitherto unseen levels.
Color Correction
Another problem with photosensitive camera sensors is incorrect color reproduction. Unlike film, where each sensitive layer captures only waves of a certain length, each active element of the camera sensor perceives the energy of the light beam, which also depends on the wavelength. The overwhelming majority of digital cameras are equipped with matrices that “understand” only three colors: red, green and blue (according to the basic RGB palette) or even two colors. Everything else is “thought out” by the camera processor. This basic color palette is capable of displaying almost any hue that exists in the real world. However, when processing information from the camera’s matrix, colors may be distorted.
Now about the technologies. For those who are very sensitive to color imperfections in their images, Sony has introduced a completely new approach to digital color perception. The Super HAD CCD ™ sensor contains a 4-color filter, where emerald is added to the three main ones. It is believed that the human eye is especially sensitive to green tones, which means that such images will look more realistic.
However, the three-color RGB scheme will also be used to save the image. But, in order to suppress skeptical grins, it is worth mentioning the fact that additional information from such a sensor really allows you to achieve a more accurate decomposition of the color range into base colors.