Sony's 24.81 megapixel, full-frame CMOS sensor going pro this year

Oh boy pixel fans, Sony just announced a new 35mm full size CMOS sensor touting 24.81 million effective pixels. The new sensor is destined for future professional-level DSLRs "within this year" in an effort to mimic the aspect ratios and distortion of their film predecessors while keeping one step ahead of the pixel wars. Sony's "Column-Parallel A/D Conversion Technique" used in the new sensor is said to achieve high S/N even while shooting 6.3, 12-bit frames per second at full resolution. What 6fps not good enough tough guy? There's always Sony's 60fps CMOS which Casio will sell you in their EX-F1. Just don't call yourself a pro if that's your preference, k?

[Via Impress]

[Johan S @ Jan 30th 2008 4:03AM]

12 bit frames? Sure it has a high resolution, but I prefer more bits .. so I'll prolly stick with Nikon.

[Phil Perman @ Jan 30th 2008 6:21AM]

That'll be 12 bits per channel, which is more than enough for most people

[tamoghno @ Jan 30th 2008 7:52AM]

@ phil .

this is not made for "most of people" . this is made for really serious pros

[Temple @ Jan 30th 2008 8:33AM]

Right now many DSLRs have 14-bit A/D, what they may offer is a 14-bit option but at a reduced frame rate similar to the Nikon D300 and D3 (Sony does supplies their sensors to Nikon), but the difference between 12bit & 14 bit are miniscule in practice.

Here are comparisons of 12bit and 14bit images done by folks at DPreview forum
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=25777840

http://www.pbase.com/davidchin/nikon_d300_12bit_vs_14bit_raw

[Geir E @ Jan 30th 2008 12:17PM]

That's like saying you think an engine suck but you want to buy a car that has it instead. Beside the d3 (which is a nikon cmos design) and d2h (which is a nikon jfet sensor design, which is a derivate from cmos.), all the other Nikon dslrs have Sony sensors.

[Jon @ Jan 30th 2008 4:04AM]

Full frame DSLR you say? Exciting times ahead!

[Joe_Templeman @ Jan 30th 2008 8:51AM]

And the Canon 5D, and the Nikon D3 are what...?

[Jon @ Jan 30th 2008 9:42AM]

old?
12mp?

[Silverfrog @ Jan 30th 2008 12:09PM]

Yes, and don't forget Canon's 1DS Mark II as well as 1DS Mark III.

[Oleg @ Jan 30th 2008 1:01PM]

And don't forget Kodak 14n and Contax N

[David @ Jan 30th 2008 4:20AM]

Johan S...

Who do you think makes the sensor used in many of Nikon's cameras? I'll give you one guess.

Expect a Nikon camera with this sensor in the not too distant future.

Ah, competition is very good. For far too long Canon has had the high-end space to itself. Competition for Canon from Nikon is wonderful news for us customers.

Bring it on...

[SimonRichards @ Jan 30th 2008 4:30AM]

That's Pixeltastic!

[Cunthor @ Jan 30th 2008 4:42AM]

Meet new Nikon ;)

[Trash_Smash @ Jan 30th 2008 5:56AM]

correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Sony unveil their recent 12MP sensor just a few days before the D300 and alpha-700 were announced? Maybe Nikon and Sony will have something more interesting than the D60 and alpha-350, respectively. Would be interesting.

[Sideswiped @ Jan 30th 2008 11:36AM]

I wouldn't doubt that this, or a slight variant, will appear in Nikon's rumored high density(mp) full frame camera. Though I doubt we'll hear about it at PMA.

[Nutsy @ Jan 30th 2008 7:04AM]

Well 24mp goes beyond 35mm quality. I know 35mm is analogue but most professionals in film and photography digitize 35mm to 4k. 10mp cameras reach just under 4k but blow up quite happily.

To be honest I hate Sony as a company but some of there hardware never ceases to impress... This is one of those times.

[Jesse S @ Jan 30th 2008 7:37AM]

They're trying to get into Hasselbad territory and create digital medium-format.

[ekwmin @ Jan 30th 2008 12:35PM]

Having worked with medium format with digital leaf back I can say that I'll believe it when I see it. Sure they pack a lot of pixels, but when I saw the difference at 300% magnification the medium format captured more details, especially in the shadow and blending of colors. This was in comparison to Canon. But packing all those megapixels in a dslr is nice for those who travel with their camera and actually NEED all those megapixels, but if you're doing in studio photography where you need the best quality I think larger formats still rule. Definitely a nice push forward though.

[johnnychipface @ Jan 30th 2008 8:38AM]

Sweet! So how many photos can I fit on my 32mb flash card?

[Nutsy @ Jan 30th 2008 10:31AM]

1 maybe 2 :p

[tekdroid @ Jan 30th 2008 11:17AM]

full-frame cmos makes me wet.

[Silverfrog @ Jan 30th 2008 12:13PM]

Except Hasselblad cameras are not made for photojournalistic photography like this one appears to be. For one, they aren't quick at all, fps-wise.

[David @ Jan 31st 2008 7:23AM]

I sure hope nikon has a robust supply agreement with sony for its chips.

If sony has a quality issue affecting yield which "customer" would suffer first, the internal one i.e. sony, or the external one i.e. nikon?

it's interesting in some respects. sony is clearly trying to break into the dSLR market, up until now dominated by canon and nikon. so clearly sony is helping it's competition by selling it chips.

kind of makes canon's decision to develop its own sensor tech look a very wise move.

wonder how long it will be before we see sony cameras at big sporting events....

[RC @ Feb 1st 2008 3:28AM]

Sony has always supplied their sensors to Nikon and the new D3 CMOS is no exception. It's a Sony chip with Nikon's collaboration. So I'm guessing that Nikon already has a camera in the works (if not already being produced) that uses this chip. Nikon's strategy seems to be releasing two at a time when it comes to their pro cameras (D1x & D1h, D2X & D2H...) so it is possible that this is the sister camera to the D3. All Nikon users know that the D3 is for photography that needs speed. All thats left is Nikon's answer to the 1DS Mark III.

C'mon Photokina 2008!

[RC @ Feb 1st 2008 3:35AM]

Oh and I hope that Sony joins the pro SLR games. Lets just hope they don't screw it up and end up like Minolta.

Whats interesting is Sony's cameras are Minolta's. So they make the sensors but they don't make the body and the lenses. I guess Nikon has a better deal with Fuji.