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[Fujifilm's SuperCCD EXR Unveiled: Sensor Promises High Res, High Quality Imaging] - 출처 : gizmodo
Fujifilm's "super ccd" technology's been about for quite a while,but with the new Super CCD EXR it looks like the main focus is onimproved image quality. It's not going to signal an end to the stupidmegapixel race, but the EXR sensor has a new mosaic color filterarrangement, new pixel-binning method and totally new electronic chargecontrol: these result in improved light sensitivity with lower noise aswell as a wider dynamic range. These should make up for the imagequality problems caused by the shrinkage of photo-diode sizes asmegapixel count has gone up...but we'll have to see some test shoots tosee if the sensor lives up to its promise. Press release below.

PHOTOKINA 2008, COLOGNE, GERMANY, September 23, 2008 —FUJIFILMCorporation, on the anniversary of 10 years of FinePix cameras, hasdeveloped “Super CCD EXR,” a revolutionary new sensor developed in therigorous pursuit of high image quality.

There is strong demand in the digital camera market to increase thenumber of pixels on a sensor, which, all too often, is used as aconvenient yardstick for image quality. While introducing excellent12-megapixel cameras such as the FinePix F50fd and the FinePix F100fd,Fujifilm has had great success in increasing pixel density while at thesame time controlling noise and optimizing sensitivity. Fujifilm’scampaign to improve overall image quality, while at the same timeincreasing sensor resolution, has been
coordinated under the program of ‘Real Photo Technology.’

‘Real Photo Technology’ is underpinned by the belief thatexperienced photographers, many brought up using famous reversal filmslike FUJICHROME Velvia or PROVIA, understand that true image quality isabout a combination of many factors like tone, hue, color fidelity,dynamic range, sharpness, and resolution. It is well known thatincreasing the pixel count on a sensor actually makes it more difficultto achieve high sensitivity and wide dynamic range. As the photodiodegets smaller, the problems of increased noise, blooming and clippingincrease.

It is widely believed that ‘high resolution’ and ‘high sensitivity’are irreconcilable opposites, and impossible to optimize on the samesensor, particularly for compact cameras, where sensors are necessarilysmaller. High quality pictures are dependent on the subject. Excellentlow light pictures need high sensitivity; high contrast pictures needwide dynamic range, while fine details, like the leaves of a tree orstrands of a model’s hair, depend on high resolution. Fujifilmengineers set about the task of building a Flexible sensor to match thedemands of the photographer. The end-goal is to produce a sensor thatworks as close to that of the human eye as possible. Whatever nuance ofcolor or sensitivity of tone that makes the scene so special to thephotographer should be the continual challenge of the
sensor engineer. The EXR sensor is essentially a switchable sensor;changing its complex electronic behavior to suit the subject, changingits characteristics as the photographer demands, and producing the verybest picture without making compromises.

“Super CCD EXR” is the latest new generation of Super CCD to beproduced by Fujifilm. Over the years, Fujifilm has excelled in highresolution sensors through ‘HR’ technology (F50fd, F100fd) and highsensitivity/wide dynamic range through ‘SR’ sensors (S3 Pro, S5 Pro).The direction in the future will be to combine HR and SR technologytogether to produce one universal sensor suitable for all high quality
photography.

The Technology of Super CCD EXR
Super CCD EXR offers three main changes from previous Fujifilm sensors:
1. A new arrangement of the mosaic color filter
2. A new method of pixel binning
3. A complete revision of the electronic charge control

1. EXR: ‘Pixel Fusion Technology’ for High Sensitivity and Low Noise
Boosting sensitivity by increasing gain causes the generation of randomincreased noise, and conventional efforts to control this noise haveresulted in blurred images and loss of resolution. On the other hand, alow-noise signal can be obtained by pixel binning. However, theconventional approach to binning (along the horizontal and verticalaxis) generates false colors because of the separation of pixels of thesame color. Because it is necessary to suppress this phenomenon, theresult is a significant drop in sharpness.

EXR changes the color filter arrangement. Two side-by-side,same-colored pixels are taken together as a single pixel. With thisdesign, the area of imaging elements is doubled, the sensitivity istwice the normal level, and ‘dark noise’ is extremely small. Thereforeit is possible to create a high sensitivity image with little noise,instead of increasing the gain from a single pixel and increasing thenoise.

Another problem with traditional pixel binning is the distancebetween same-colored pixels. Since the pixels are combined verticallyor horizontally, the distance between combined same-color pixels islarge, resulting in the generation of false colors. Boasting a newtechnology called Close Incline Pixel Coupling, the new Super CCD EXRcan prevent the generation of false colors by mixing two adjoiningpixels as one, and managing to achieve both low noise and excellentsharpness.

2. EXR: ‘Dual Capture Technology’ for Wide Dynamic Range
Super CCD EXR uses flexible and high-precision exposure control tosimultaneously capture two images of the same scene: one taken at highsensitivity and the other at low sensitivity. It then merges the twoimages to generate a photo that has excellent depth and range.

Previously, Fujifilm used two different methods to improve dynamicrange. The first was Super CCD SR. Through the adoption of a “doublepixel structure” based on silver halide film, which comprises an “Spixel” with a large area and high sensitivity and an “R pixel” with asmall area, a dynamic range four times that of conventional sensors wasachieved. The second was based on Super CCD HR, where the gradation ofshadows was gradually adjusted while raising the sensitivity of signalprocessing, and where highlights were softened to delineate an optimalcurve. Similar to Super CCD SR, the new EXR sensor uses Dual ExposureControl to impart two differing sensitivities by controlling the lightexposure time (the time in which charge accumulates). Unlike SR, theimaging elements are the same (large) size, which means the potentialfor widened dynamic range is even greater, and facilitates a greaterspectrum of graduated
expression.

3. EXR: ‘Fine Capture Technology’ for High Resolution
The distinctive structure of the new Super CCD EXR fully exploits allthe pixels in the layer beneath the new color filter matrix and takesadvantage of the optimized signal processing of the new RP processor tocreate an image with the highest possible resolution quality. Eventhough the sensor has been designed for ‘Dual Capture’ for Wide DynamicRange and ‘Pixel Fusion’ for Low Noise, it actually performs as well asprevious 12-megapixel Super CCD sensors due to the new filter andphotodiode design.

When light is full and even, and when fine detail is required, EXRcan deliver exquisite detailed expression for landscape orarchitectural photography, and render the finest details of clothes,hair or jewelry in portrait photography.

EXR: The Future
Fujifilm is determined to use decades of imaging know-how gainedthrough the development of film to push the boundaries of what ispossible to achieve with an imaging sensor. The market for digitalcameras is only around a decade old, and Fujifilm believes that it ispossible to follow the holy grail of ‘absolute image quality’ in thedomain of electronic imaging, just as it did with conventional imaging.
With EXR, Fujifilm can choose one engineering direction, rather thandeveloping separate sensors for high sensitivity and high resolution.Fujifilm looks forward with excitement to introducing this sensor intoits range of high quality cameras, and expects enthusiasts to see aquantum leap in image quality from anything they have seen before.