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Four Most Potential Innovative Technologies of Digital Camera

Nowadays, the new technology of photographic equipment has entered the era of "a hundred flowers blossom, which is unpopular", and various innovations emerge one after another, which constantly brings surprises and expectations to the majority of film friends. As the prospect of new technology in the future, we can't just stay on "which company introduces what new equipment". It is superficial and misleading if we just talk about the matter and don't fundamentally summarize the strategic and technological development behind the equipment.

The intention of this paper is to "predict" which innovative technologies at the strategic level will go down in history and become the most dazzling "future stars" in the new year and even in the next few years.

First, the photosensitive device has changed from "quantitative change" to "qualitative change"

The development history of 135 digital camera is an "expansion competition" history of "pixel number", and all manufacturers are making every effort to improve the pixel number, from the earliest 1 10,000 pixels to 24.6 million pixels. So far, it has caught up with the speed of home PC: photos with a side length of more than 6000 pixels have made ordinary computer users "unable to process photos". It is difficult to see more practical benefits except that the photos can be enlarged. Now, manufacturers have finally realized this "omission" and started to overcome the "quality" problem of photosensitive devices, and gained strategic development opportunities with "image quality breakthrough".

1, Sony ultra-high speed, planar determinant Quan Huafu CMOS.

Sony's new Quan Huafu sensor not only exceeds Canon EOS1DSMark III 24810000 pixels, but also has a "historic breakthrough" in the internal structure of the sensor.

In the past, the industry usually adopted the way of "point-by-point A/D (analog-to-digital) conversion", and scanned and converted pixel by pixel. When the sensor developed to Quan Huafu, the speed of image conversion and transmission could not be improved because of the drag of "point-by-point conversion queue". Moreover, due to the increase of the physical distance of the transmission line, the conversion quality of the pixel farthest from the conversion end is obviously reduced.

Sony's new sensor adopts "parallel A/D conversion", that is, the whole chip is divided into more than 6,000 "parallel columns", and each chipset can independently carry out A/D conversion, from a "snake team" to "more than 6,000 small teams" working at the same time. Then, "12 channel parallel LVDS transmission technology" is adopted for high-speed digital output.

The popular explanation is that at the moment when the shutter is opened, the signals obtained by 248 1000 pixels are divided into more than 6,000 groups, and digital conversion is started at the same time, and the obtained images are sent out through 12 channels at the same time, just like "6 up and 6 down", and the traffic capacity is much higher than that of the ordinary "one-way up, one-way down" expressway. This accelerates the speed of image conversion and output, reduces the hardware pressure of "pixel-by-pixel conversion", shortens the physical distance of transmission and improves the conversion quality.

This sensor also has the function of "PGA programming gain amplifier circuit", which can "program the change of control signal inside the sensor".

Firstly, the "three times noise reduction" of image output is realized: the sensor receives the signals before and after analog-to-digital conversion, and then enters the camera image processing engine to start the third digital noise reduction. This ensures the sensor's high gain, high dynamic performance and low noise, and its external performance is "extremely high ISO sensitivity", "good low and high light tolerance", "extremely low noise" and "extremely high continuous shooting speed".

It is a great change that digital photosensitive devices can be programmed internally, which has broad application prospects. For example, it can realize "exposure in the same picture, multi-partition and automatic selection of different sensitivities", thus completely eliminating the problems of "dark corner" and "highlight overflow" of digital cameras.

In 2008, Sony officially launched the a900 full-frame digital SLR camera and the high-pixel upgraded version D3x of Nikon D3, all of which adopted this latest sensor. The real shooting effects of these two models have really improved the image quality, and the Quan Huafu and wide dynamic range have been exquisitely displayed. Compared with D3, the image quality of D3x at ISO 100 sensitivity has a new sense of tone layering, while achieving low noise, high resolution and excellent response speed.

Looking forward to the future, this technology will surely go down the "altar" and spread to low-end full-frame cameras, which is greatly welcomed by the biggest film friends.

2. Pentax and Samsung ultra-light and ultra-high resolution CMOS sensors

Not to be outdone, Pentax introduced K20D digital SLR camera and14.6 megapixel CMOS sensor. Samsung's similar digital SLR camera is GX-20.

This CMOS sensor is jointly developed by Pentax and Samsung * * *, and is manufactured by Samsung, which deserves special attention.

One of the keys to the image quality produced by photosensitive devices is the area of each pixel. Although the number of pixels in some card machines has greatly increased, their total area has not changed, resulting in a significant decrease in unit pixel area and a decline in image quality.

Compared with Sony's12 million pixel sensor, Pentax sensor has14.6 million pixels, but the single pixel area is the same as that of12 million pixel sensor!

In other words: Pentax installed 2.7 million more pixels of the same size on the total area of APS-C (Pentax has applied for a patent for this technology)! Therefore, this image sensor is called "the industry's first ultra-high resolution sensor".

Pentax's photosensitive device is 20% lighter than before. In this way, when the anti-shake of the fuselage is turned on, the sensor displacement compensation is easier, the effect is greatly improved, and the critical shutter can be reduced by 2.5-4 levels, which is close to the anti-shake effect of the lens.

Another feature is that the pixels of the sensor are designed with ISO 1600 as the basic sensitivity. In other words, it is "innate" high sensitivity.

Pentax sensor also has the function of "automatic pixel repair"! By operating the camera button, the bad point on the sensor can be repaired without sending it to a special repair shop.

Therefore, Pentax, a sensor with high resolution, high sensitivity, low noise, ultra-light weight and automatic repair of bad points, may be the most advanced CMOS sensor in the future.

3. Fuji's "epoch-making" sensor: SupercCCD EXR.

The most dazzling thing is that Fuji Company invented "SupercCCD EXR" technology. This is a new technology of ultra-high quality CCD sensor, which can be called "epoch-making significance". It has three characteristics: super high resolution, super high sensitivity and super wide dynamic range.

As mentioned above, if the number of sensor pixels is greatly increased, the photodiode area of each pixel will be greatly reduced, then the problems such as noise and color crosstalk will become more obvious, and it will become more and more difficult to achieve high sensitivity and wide dynamic. Therefore, since the development of digital camera technology, this problem has always been a big "problem" for sensors with small area and high pixels per inch.

Fuji's "SupercCCD EXR" technology will completely solve this problem.

The design of "EXR" sensor has "three tricks":

⑴ "Pixel pairwise arrangement and merging"-to achieve ultra-high sensitivity and ultra-low noise.

High sensitivity is generally achieved by increasing the "signal magnification", which will definitely increase the "dark noise" of the image. If the noise is reduced again, the resolution will decrease and the image will become blurred.

EXR sensor adopts "pixel merging technology" to obtain high sensitivity. That is to say, the arrangement of color units is changed from "square array" to "oblique array", which makes the pixels of the same color closer and makes the pixels of the same color "pair" and "oblique neighbor" merge into a "big pixel" work. In this way, although the signal magnification is not increased, the image optical signal achieves a "double effect" and the sensitivity is doubled, but the "dark noise" is not increased.

⑵ "Double exposure superposition technology"-realizing ultra-wide dynamic range

EXR sensor adopts "double exposure superposition control" technology. In the super CCD EXR sensor, pixels are divided into two groups: "A channel" and "B channel". Press the shutter, and two groups shoot at the same time: one with high sensitivity and the other with low sensitivity. Then the results of the two groups of shots are superimposed and merged, and a photo with high and low light effects can be obtained.

In this way, "high light signal" and "low light detail signal" are exposed twice, so that EXR sensor can obtain a wide dynamic range, and the phenomenon of "high light overflow" common in digital cameras will no longer appear.

⑶ "Fine Isoexposure Technology" —— Ensure ultra-high resolution.

In the "Super CCD SR" technology before Fuji, the two groups of pixels are "one big and one small", so the smaller group has little effect on improving the overall resolution. However, the two groups of pixels of EXR sensor have the same size, so both groups of pixels can produce enough image signal resolution, ensuring a wide dynamic range and high enough resolution.

In 2009, Fuji introduced the FinePix F200 EXR small digital camera, which adopts12 megapixel "SupercCCD EXR" sensor and "EXR image processing engine" technology, and has five "film simulation modes", multiple anti-shake and ultra-high sensitivity of ISO 12800. The trial results show that EXR sensor can accurately reproduce every detail and color of clothes and hair in portrait photography.

Subsequently, Fuji continuously introduced FinePix F75EXR with EXR sensor (figure 1 1a) and S205EXR, a household DC machine that replaced S 100FS.

Facts have proved that the super CCD EXR technology is a very dazzling "super innovative technology", especially suitable for cameras with "small sensors and large pixels per inch".

Looking forward to the future development trend of technology, the competition of photosensitive devices has shifted from the initial competition of pixel number to the goal of diversified functions, fine image quality, high dynamic, high sensitivity and low noise.

2. Great changes in the display screen: With the birth of "organic light-emitting diodes", liquid crystals will withdraw from the historical stage?

Liquid crystal display (LCD) easily beats cathode ray tube (CRT) and plasma display device (PDP) with its "four advantages" of fine image, true color, ultra-thin volume and low power consumption, and is the leader in all fields of the market.

Now, the "crisis" has really come: LCD faces the double challenges of "organic light emitting diode" and "SED"! It can be predicted that before long, LCD will give up its market share and retreat to the corner.

At present, the popular liquid crystal technology has six "congenital deficiencies":

① There are differences in perspective. The effect of direct vision is good, the color of lateral squint is poor, and even the picture can't be seen clearly;

② The response time lags behind. A "trailing track" will appear in a fast-moving picture. Therefore, when buying LCD TV, we must pay attention to that the "response time" cannot be longer than16ms; The PC monitor requires a response time of less than 10 millisecond.

(3) Temperature has a serious impact. When the temperature drops, the liquid crystal will "freeze" and the reaction will be slow or even ineffective; As the temperature rises, the color of the LCD screen will gradually deepen until it is completely black.

(4) The liquid crystal itself cannot emit light, so it must be set off by backlight, which increases the power consumption. All kinds of cameras, mobile phones and mobile multimedia devices, with or without LCD screens, will more than double their power consumption. In this way, battery capacity will become the "bottleneck" of equipment performance development;

⑤ You can't see the LCD screen when the outside light is slightly strong; You can't see it when the backlight is completely black;

⑥ It is difficult to make a large area LCD panel, and the yield is very low due to its fragility. The reason why LCD TVs over 50 inches are extremely expensive is that each TV has to bear the cost of 3-6 LCD screens being damaged and leftover materials being lost.

So until now, the LCD screen is still not the "three guarantees" content of most manufacturers, and the replacement cost is almost 1/3- 1/2 of the price of the whole machine.

In addition, due to the limitation of "original opening size of glass" and "economical cutting", LCD screens can never be produced in any size.

Now, with the organic light-emitting diodes and SED gradually entering industrial production, a new generation of materials and technologies that do not have the above disadvantages will be "born" and "come from behind"!

The full name of "organic light-emitting diode" is "organic light-emitting display", that is, "organic thin-film light-emitting display" (note that Samsung calls the newly-launched backlight TV "LED TV"-actually it is just "LCD TV with LED backlight", which is completely different from the "organic light-emitting diode" mentioned in this article! ), "organic light emitting diode" is a kind of "thin film light emitting device" made of organic semiconductor material and driven by DC voltage.

Organic thin film electroluminescence has been studied since 1950s and 1960s, and its technology and principle are boring for most people, so I won't go into details here. Only then did I know: "The organic light-emitting diode display screen is a" multi-layer sandwich biscuit "structure, with ultra-thin transparent positive and negative electrodes, and an organic thin film light-emitting layer is sandwiched between the electrodes, which will emit light when energized, and images can be seen through the transparent electrodes".

Organic light emitting diodes can be divided into active driving and passive driving. Passive organic light-emitting diodes have low cost and simple process, and are suitable for small-size display screens. Active organic light emitting diodes are suitable for large-size displays and high-resolution displays.

Compared with the first-generation display represented by CRT (cathode ray tube) and the second-generation display represented by PDP (plasma) and LCD (liquid crystal), organic light-emitting diodes have the following advantages:

(1) All solid, no vacuum, no liquid component. Therefore, it has good seismic performance and can work under severe vibration;

② Ultra-thin membrane structure. Thin thickness, light weight, core thickness less than 1mm, about1/3 of liquid crystal; Flexible displays can also be made on substrates of different materials, and can be rolled up like newspapers when displaying images;

(3) The brightness and luminous efficiency are high, and the brightness can reach more than 300 cd/m2, so you can read as usual under outdoor strong light;

④ High resolution, easy to realize full color. It also has an ultra-wide viewing angle, and the up, down, left and right views remain unchanged;

⑤ The response speed is several microseconds to tens of microseconds, which is 1 thousand times faster than that of LCD, and the displayed moving image has no tailing phenomenon;

⑥ Only low-voltage DC drive is needed, the lowest voltage is 3V, and its own power consumption is extremely low. But also actively emits light without backlight illumination, thereby further reducing the driving energy consumption and being suitable for pocket portable equipment;

⑦ Good temperature characteristics, which can work normally in the range of -40℃ ~+70℃;

⑧ Low material cost, less consumption and simple manufacturing process. Generally, only 86 processes are needed, while liquid crystal needs 200 processes, so the cost is more than 20% lower than that of LCD, and it is easy for mass production.

It can be seen that the "eight advantages" of organic light-emitting diodes directly point to the "six life gates" of liquid crystals, which can be called the "natural nemesis" of liquid crystals! Especially suitable for the most popular cameras, mobile phones, GPS, digital companions, MP3 and MP4.

At present, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and many businesses in Europe and America have successfully mastered this new display technology. Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been popularized internationally. For example, Hasselblad's famous medium format digital back CLV uses an organic light-emitting diode screen, and Leica S2' s new generation medium format "145 system" has an organic light-emitting diode display screen at the top. In the mobile phone family that more people pay attention to, Nokia's latest flagship diamond 8800a uses an advanced organic light-emitting diode display. In March 2009, Samsung introduced the card machine WB 100, and the price was in the early 2000s .. This machine was equipped with a 3-inch 920,000-pixel AMOLED screen.

Compared with the traditional LCD screen, the viewing angle of AMOLED screen reaches 180 degrees, and the contrast is as high as10000:1. The display color of AMOLED screen is darker, more energy-saving and more vivid, which is suitable for outdoor shooting in strong sunlight environment. It is recognized by the industry as "the most promising next-generation display technology".

But I waited for four days at the E-show in 2009, and none of Samsung's leaders dared to come out and explain to me: Is this "AMOLED" an "organic light-emitting diode"? Or just "LED backlight LCD"? Finally, I said, "I'll call you when I go back for instructions"-nearly a year has passed, and there is still no news.

However, I saw Sony's OLED TV in Russia with my own eyes, the model is XEL- 1.

Its vivid and true colors and delicate images have reached the peak, which is by no means comparable to any high-definition LCD in the domestic market!

But its price is also top-notch: the price of a 9-inch TV set is 174400 rubles! (approximately equivalent to RMB43,600)

The potential development advantages of organic light-emitting diodes will surely make them a bright star in the electronic display market!

SED technology in parallel with organic light emitting diodes

At present, organic light-emitting diodes have been widely used in small screen displays in the international market. The products that big screen has replaced LCD TV or will begin to replace LCD TV include "OLED TV (LED backlight LCD TV can't be counted)" and Canon's patent: "SED".

SED is the abbreviation of "surface conduction electron emission display", which literally translates as "surface current-carrying electron emission display". Don't be confused, just know that SED is also one of the "electroluminescent technologies". Overseas media who have seen the SED exhibition reported that the quality of SED was "simply amazing". Its resolution, contrast, response speed, color scale, color temperature control, gray scale performance and color performance have reached the peak of all kinds of displays at present! For example, the highest contrast of plasma display is 5000: 1, the highest contrast of LCD is 600: 1, and the contrast of SED can reach 8600: 1!

SED technology is currently a patent of Canon. In the early years, Canon cooperated with Toshiba to develop a 42-inch practical prototype.

In 2005, it was said that it would go public, but nothing has happened so far. Toshiba also withdrew and sold back the shares of SED, a company established in cooperation with Canon. It is said that it "caused a patent dispute in the United States."

In fact, SED's delay in listing is by no means a lawsuit. The real inside story is probably that the bright future of SED has made Canon see huge profits. It monopolized technology patents and factory shares with huge sums of money, so that SED technology only exists in Canon's hands. Therefore, it has attracted the obstruction of all international interest groups. In order to prevent SED technology from impacting the production of plasma and LCD TVs, other manufacturers boycotted SED products. A few years ago, TV manufacturers wanted to buy the technology of SED and organic light-emitting diode, and then sealed it and killed it, waiting for LCD and plasma TV to "make enough money".

However, organic light-emitting diode technology has been mastered by many manufacturers today, which is obviously irresistible; The future of "one flower alone" SED is uncertain. Canon's excessive greed and monopoly have caused the joint antitrust of all other plasma and LCD manufacturers! -This is the cruel competition in the capital market.

At the press conference of Canon Malaysia III, I saw a media reporter boldly ask Canon executives: When will SED TV go on the market? The happy Japanese suddenly pulled his face more than a foot! After a long silence, I ended the media interview with one sentence: "Today is the conference of digital cameras, and I don't want to talk about other irrelevant contents."

We can only wait and see whether this new technology SED can "break through".

But what is certain is that at present, "organic light-emitting diodes" have been widely used in industry, and large-screen TVs and displays of organic light-emitting diodes have also appeared. No matter whether SED can "break through" in the future, the days when LCD will be on the historical stage will definitely be numbered.

Third, all future photos are "three-dimensional"? -Fuji's "FinePix Natural 3D Image System" has opened a new world for cinematographers.

Stereo photo and the observation mirror are both Scottish physicists David? Brewster invented it in 1849, and it reached its peak in 1870. At that time, every family was equipped with a stereo viewfinder, just like fans bought music CDs of idols.

With the development of radio, film and television, stereo photo gradually withdrew from the market. But today, stereoscopic photography technology has begun to "return" around the world. Three-dimensional movies and three-dimensional television have also gradually developed.

In the traditional 3D technology, two (or more) pictures of the same scene with different visual angles are obtained by using a multi-lens camera, and then people can see two (or two) images with different visual angles through binocular stereo viewer or shading technology such as polarization and prism, and these images can be superimposed into a three-dimensional scene in their minds.

These technical means are basically at the original level of film photography and physical spectroscopy, and the basic operation ideas have hardly changed compared with19th century.

Now Fuji has released a "3D digital imaging system", including 3D digital cameras, 3D digital photo frames and 3D digital printing.

It marks that a brand-new "digital three-dimensional field" has "exploded"!

Relying on the technology of "Fuji FinePix Natural 3D System", high-quality 3D images can be directly seen with naked eyes in LCD playback, display and digital printing without any additional means. Although its basic principle is still "double-angle imaging and separate-eye viewing", it has innovated the "four musts":

⑴ There are two "3D auto" sensors in the stereo digital camera, and it also has a "synchronous control system" with an accuracy of one thousandth of a second. When the shutter is pressed, the "dual sensors" and "synchronous control system" will automatically coordinate the parameters such as focus, zoom range, exposure and shutter control. So that the "dual-view images" can be strictly consistent and high-quality dual-view images with exactly the same parameters can be produced.

⑵ Relying on the technology of "natural image processing 3D engine". The image signals on two CCD sensors can be merged and quickly processed into high-quality images, ensuring that static photos and dynamic images can be restored efficiently.

⑶ The 3D imaging system adopts a high-precision "Fuji Dragon" lens, which ensures that the image signals collected by the left and right channels are highly consistent.

⑷ On the back of the 3D LCD screen, there is a "light direction control module", which can accurately control the light direction of two input perspective images through electronic technology (mechanical beam splitting in the past) to make them enter the viewer's left eye and right eye respectively, so that users can watch high-quality 3D images without wearing 3D glasses.

The 3D camera system adopts a 2.8-inch LCD with 230,000 pixels, which overcomes the problems of screen flicker and dim image, and can obtain real and natural 3D images. The screen can also shoot and display 2D images like a normal camera.

Similarly, Fuji's 8.4-inch and 920,000-pixel "Fuji FinePix natural 3D Digital Photo Frame" has also been launched. In the future, we can see our clear and transparent stereo photo on the table and on the wall.

Fuji is studying how to merge the corresponding pixels of two sensors through EXG technology, so as to take "ultra-high-definition" planar 2D photos with 3D digital cameras.

At present, many domestic manufacturers have mature previous generation stereo imaging technology. If we can "digitize" it as soon as possible, a new round of "image revolution storm" will occur, and the potential market is huge!

Fourth, the "Mobion" new fuel cell has entered the practical application stage-the position of lithium battery is in jeopardy?

At present, most portable and pocket-sized electronic devices use lithium batteries. Lithium battery has stable performance, no memory effect, small size, light weight and large specific capacity (unit volume capacity), and has been firmly in the market.

However, like liquid crystals, lithium batteries also have "triple fatal doors":

① Lithium batteries are not green energy sources and pollute the environment. So far, environmental protection is still a difficult problem.

② The capacity of lithium battery is not enough to support the demand of multimedia portable devices, especially 3G mobile phones, MP4 and GPS；;

(3) Lithium batteries can only be charged where there is an AC outlet, otherwise it is a waste if there is no electricity.

In view of the "triple life door" of lithium batteries, manufacturers are making every effort to develop "new fuel cells" to replace it.

Methanol fuel cell generates electricity through the reaction of methanol and oxygen, and the by-products are only water and a relatively small amount of carbon dioxide, which is a clean and environmentally friendly energy source. The working temperature range is 0℃-40℃, and it can work normally under any humidity; Only "Mobion" fuel cell

It needs to occupy less than 9cm3, can meet the use requirements of various consumer electronic products, can provide more than twice the power of lithium batteries, and can be charged only by adding fuel (methanol). More importantly, methanol comes from natural gas, with modular design and only 1 weldment, which is easy to realize mass production, so the cost is very low.

American fuel cell manufacturer MTI MicroFuel Cells recently announced that it has successfully developed a new product "direct methanol fuel cell"-"Mobion", which has greatly improved its output characteristics and reduced its volume by half.

Mobion "fuel cell has been used in mobile phones.

In the future, MTI will cooperate with Korean mobile phone manufacturer NeoSolar to develop mobile phone fuel cell applications.

At the International Fuel Cell Exhibition in Japan, MTI Micro also demonstrated the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) matched with the digital SLR camera. Compared with lithium batteries of the same size, this fuel cell can provide more than twice the power. In addition, the mobile fuel cell can be charged by adding methanol. In this way, photographers who travel all the year round can charge their cameras anytime and anywhere, and no longer have to worry about finding an AC socket.

In 2008, 6 million SLR cameras around the world were equipped with Mobion fuel cell developed by MTI Micro. And this number is expected to increase rapidly in the next few years! Some people even vowed to "predict" that Canon's next-generation SLR flagship product EOS 1Ds mark IV will use organic light-emitting diode displays and methanol fuel cells in addition to the 32-megapixel sensor!

Recently, MTI Micro also introduced a portable fuel cell charger Mobion using "replaceable' fuel box'.

The fuel used is also methanol. Each "fuel box" can provide 25 hours of electricity. You can charge your mobile phone ten times, play 10000 songs with MP3 player, or watch 100 hours of movies.

After the power is used up, just take out the "fuel box" from the charger and refill it with methanol, or replace it with another "fuel box". In the future, movie friends don't need to bring a charger when they go out, and they don't need to find AC power!

MTI Micro said that the product will be introduced to the world market in 2009.

Now the industry generally believes that miniaturized mobile fuel cells have great development prospects. Especially in mobile phones, digital cameras, digital companions and portable game devices, there is a huge potential market. The existing lithium batteries can't keep up with the demand for electric energy of these electronic devices. Once the fuel cell is popularized, the lithium battery, as the "former emperor", will only "cry in the cold"!

Concluding remarks

Forecast the development of photographic equipment technology;

The vast majority of movie friends hope that the new Quan Huafu sensor will be extended to the middle and low-end SLR, and the whole machine can enter the psychological price of 6,000 yuan; APS-C format sensor "squeezed into" the psychological price of 3,000 yuan of digital home machine card machine, so that more ordinary people can also enjoy the "high definition" happiness brought by large format sensor!

Of course, these cameras include mobile phones, "walkman" and "watching with you". It is best to use the most dazzling organic light-emitting diode displays and large-capacity fuel cells, and they can also realize stereoscopic shooting and display technology as soon as possible.

This day is not far away.