Sony's 1/1.8-inch high-speed CMOS sensor outputs 60fps

Thankfully, it looks like Sony has come through yet again, and while it wasn't exactly in the timeliest of manners, the high-speed CMOS sensor that it promised would deliver 60fps of video output is finally upon us. The 1/1.8-inch IMX017CQE sensor boasts 6.4-megapixels of resolution and the uncanny ability to "output this resolution at 60 frames per second (a data rate of around 384 megapixels per second)." In layman's terms, this chip has the ability to capture full motion video and grab high-quality stills without dropping a single frame, giving users a seamless transition between the two. Additionally, the 1/1.8-inch size and its ability to deliver 300 frames per second at lower resolutions moves it a bit further from the pack, not to mention the 12-bit A/D converter for each column. No word just yet on when these video-centric chips will hit Sony's CyberShot lineup, but it's an awful lot closer to reality than the last time we caught wind of it. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via DPReview]

[Joe @ Feb 19th 2007 2:19PM]

Some competition for the RED One, perhaps? http://www.red.com/ (There was speculation that as it neared completion, an existing electronics superpower would push out a new motion picture sensor.)

[Castle @ Feb 19th 2007 2:53PM]

There is suppose to be a convergence between digital cameras and video cams, this is the first step. Cybershot+ Handycam. It'll be amazing to be able to just record a video and then extract a high-quality 6M picture out of your video at the best scene.

[Jason @ Feb 19th 2007 4:13PM]

My Canon S2IS takes 30fps 640x480 video with stereo sound. It saves the video as uncompresed AVI files. I have full use of the 12X optical zoom while capturing video and zooming is 100% silent. Autofocus during video is fast, and there's always the manual focus option. The video quality in good lighting is as good or better than an average camcorder in my opinion.

There's even a newer S3IS that has better low light sensitivity, and a Canon S4IS could be unleashed within the next month.

Every single time I needed quality video capture, it's never let me down. I can even shoot video with any setting on the camera, including super macro. Macro insect vidoes look great!

Oh and it's a great digital camera too. So don't think there's nothing out there now. My S2IS is a over a year old!

[Kevin @ Feb 19th 2007 4:29PM]

Your Canon takes 30fps at 640x480

This chip takes 60fps at 2921x2184

That's a HUGE difference

You realize 640x480 is a 0.3 megapixel image.....the Sony is 6.4 megapixels. So no, your Canon does nothing like this.

[Jason @ Feb 19th 2007 4:41PM]

You're right my camera is nothing like this.

My Canon is a real, working camera.

This is a PR release.

That IS a HUGE difference.

[djhindsight @ Feb 20th 2007 12:25AM]

you must work for canon.... nice

[Joe Mansfield @ Feb 19th 2007 5:46PM]

You need to realise that while this is a ~6Megapixel sensor, those 6.4Mega pixels need to be shared over all three colours. If you dig into this you will see that this is a very fine new sensor that supports Full HD (1080p) recording at 60fps, 720p at 60fps, plus has the ability to take ~3.6Megapixel full colour stills on the fly and supports some other minor resolutions\rates including the substantially lower resolution (0.75Megapixel) but ultra high speed 300fps mode.
For some more pure speculation I've run through the numbers here :http://helvick.blogspot.com/2007/02/sonys-new-6-megapixel-cmos-video-sensor.html .

[Dustin @ Feb 20th 2007 1:07AM]

Jason,

thanks for sorting that out for us. I almost thought for a moment that the world may like technological advances.

But now I realize that we can just keep using what we already have! Stop inventing at once!!

-D