Sony announces new CMOS sensors, 12+ megapixel cameraphones coming soon

If you've enjoyed the point-and-shoot megapixel race, which has pushed sensor resolutions in your average 3X zoom compact cam well into the teens -- leaving a sad trail of dark and noisy holiday pictures in its wake -- you're going to just love the mobile phone megapixel race. Samsung's 10 megapixel SCH-B600 currently holds the lead, but Sony's got a ringer chomping at the bit with the Exmor IMX060PQ CMOS sensor, which, paired with its matching auto-focus lens module, will turn some lucky handset into a 12.25 megapixel shooter when it enters the race in March. Sony has also announced 5.15 and 8.11 megapixel sensors, but really, anything not in double digits is so last year.

[Via Akihabara News]

[apple fanboy @ Nov 13th 2008 9:00AM]

sweet more hd upskirt pics

[Allister @ Nov 13th 2008 9:16AM]

The 'D' in 'HD' usually means 'definition' which I think it's pretty safe to say is something shots from these cameras won't have.

[Saad @ Nov 15th 2008 1:45AM]

@iEye

"I hate so much about the things that you choose to be"

[ninja catfish @ Nov 13th 2008 10:53AM]

Oh goodie. Now the noisy crappy pictures will be even BIGGER!

[iEye @ Nov 13th 2008 9:10AM]

Oh great, just make it easy to facilitate identity theft, I will be looking over my shoulder when I have to pull out ID.
And you wonder why Apple limited the 2mp camera... for everyone's privacy!.. thank you Apple!

And since I am here let me make yet another crass comment;

Ooooh look at me! my shite S.E. phone has a 12MP camera... it is much better than your digital SLR...!

[Aaron @ Nov 13th 2008 9:34AM]

Unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.

[B.C. @ Nov 13th 2008 1:05PM]

Still funny though. Then again I miss the over-the-top comments by Clak.

[thedesolate1 @ Nov 13th 2008 9:12AM]

More celebutante p0rn. Hopefully tasteful. Now how about we get a matching lens war going on with it. Sure some will argue that nobody will print pictures this big but for the use of digitally sharing them it is an issue. With HD displays becoming more and more ubiquitous it will be easier to spot the imperfections in these high resolution images if they don't make sensors and lenses that can handle them.

[titanium man @ Nov 13th 2008 1:36PM]

I really hope someone comes out with a REAL digital camera lens for a cellphone and market it like crazy, so the entire industry benefits.
I'm looking at you Apple!
Then, they can produce a making of video like the one for the unibody macbooks explaining how cool and awesome they are!

[Jason @ Nov 13th 2008 9:12AM]

12MP and a lens with what looks like a 1mm aperture... plus several lenses for a/f and zoom.

Yeah, good luck taking decent pics in anything but in direct full sunlight at noon.

[dj-kenpo @ Nov 13th 2008 9:48AM]

exactly..
WTF is the point? 5mp of shit cmos VS 12mp of shit cmos still == shit.

what's the point?

[From My Cube @ Nov 13th 2008 10:31AM]

we dont want to put mr. blurry cam out of a job now do we?

[Temple @ Nov 13th 2008 11:26AM]

Yeah, welcome cellphone cameras. Even my elderly, computer-illiterate mother won't trust a cellphone to take her vacation photos.

[frenky @ Nov 13th 2008 3:07PM]

really... wtf... for 12mpixles you have to have some lens... not some glass plastic shit... does anyone know how high is quality of optical glass for 12mpix lenses???? how expensive is just the glass... if we set aside that the sensor can't be that small and "good"... after 3mpix it was just fooling the customers??? and throwing away research money on stupid projects...

[Ray @ Nov 13th 2008 12:15PM]

Jason hit the nail on the head, these cameras just dont have the light sensitivity adjustment capability (c-c-combo) to take decent nigt shots. Its a huge waste of technology to me. My old digital camera @ 4 megapixels will take shots close to 100% better than these in mid lit environments.

And Mr. Blurry cam will be very excited to take crappy shots at resolutions so high that they will almost looks decent scaled down.

[Shinigami @ Nov 13th 2008 4:45PM]

You're saying that Vista is BAD because its Vista. You didn't see the pictures yet and already complain its horrible.
Wait for the first pictures and then complain all you like! xD

[Sam @ Nov 13th 2008 9:44AM]

Is there such thing as too many MP for a phone? I mean, even with 12MP the pictures aren't going to be worth printing, no matter what they say in their marketing bumf

http://gadgetsgamesandstuff.blogspot.com

[Wonderkid @ Nov 13th 2008 9:19AM]

This is very silly. The reason Sony (and others) are doing this is simply to ensure people buy yet more memory cards for their phones and gadgets to save the ever larger images these noisy sensors produce. With margins on the actual hardware so small, it's the razor and razor blade scenario all over again. The sooner a company launches a camera phone with iPod (Classic) sized storage so we don't need media - and attaches a decent (large) lens, we'll be rocking. The Sony Ericsson K800i still produces the best images because it combines a large lens (take a look and compare to more recent phones), the perfect pixel resolution - a reasonable 3MP - with auto focus and a flash. Only the new LG Renior and excellent Nokia N82 match or beat the K800i thanks to the same combination of lens, pixel resolution and real (non LED) flash. (Yes, the Renoir is 8MP, but the lens is larger - and it has a real flash to cut down on the noise with indoor photography.)

[Magallanes @ Nov 13th 2008 11:25AM]

3.2 megapixel works fine for portrait and macros but stink seriously for landscape.

[Shinigami @ Nov 13th 2008 4:49PM]

I love that renoir thingie but its flash is simply... horrible. Take a look here:
http://www.gsmarena.com/8_megapixel_grand_shootout-review-296.php
on this page they have flash comparison
http://www.gsmarena.com/8_megapixel_grand_shootout-review-296p3.php
Renoir's flash isn't as bad as some others but it still lacks a lot of power compared to C905.

I'm still waiting for Nokia's 8mp camera phone, I want to see what will they offer.

[Dirk Lucas @ Nov 13th 2008 9:20AM]

Really, who cares?

This megapixelmania was essentially useless years ago, in real cameras. In the crapagadget cameraphones it's just ridiculous.

[Jeff @ Nov 13th 2008 12:00PM]

word.

who gives a shit about pixel count anymore?

I'm looking for good low-light sensitivity, damnit. 12mp of noisy garbage isn't really much different than 1mp of noisy garbage.

[yummer @ Nov 14th 2008 4:17PM]

I have a 5 year old Canon G3 (4 megapixel) that produces better photos than 95% of the 10+ megapixel cameras out there. The megapixel race is meaningless and driven by marketing droids.

[TimSykes @ Nov 13th 2008 9:31AM]

you know what else happens in 2012. the end of the world. What do you think will come first?

[WhyFi @ Nov 13th 2008 9:40AM]

Why?

[runbuh @ Nov 13th 2008 9:50AM]

champing at the bit...

[blahblah @ Nov 13th 2008 2:24PM]

Both spellings are in the American Heritage Dictionary...

[ethana2 @ Nov 13th 2008 10:12AM]

I'll be happy to see the first laptop webcam at this resolution with a lens 2 cm in diameter instead of 2 mm.
Somehow tiny lenses make EVERYTHING look horrible, mostly noticeable with faces.
Especially the faces of people I know... mainly me... primarily when taken from 20 cm or so.

[and101 @ Nov 13th 2008 10:12AM]

Why doesn't Sony spend some time inventing a low noise camera for mobiles? What use is 12+ megapixels when you loose half of the picture to noise?

[Technex @ Nov 13th 2008 1:22PM]

Because Sony sucks.

[Philip Amatulli @ Nov 13th 2008 10:18AM]

I think their time could be better spent...but that is the key word isn't it....spent. .

[csnoke @ Nov 13th 2008 10:38AM]

While a lot of the comments about how pointless this is have credibility to them, I for one welcome the convergence of gadgets. Our crews carry a usb GPS with them, a digital camera and cell phones every where they go. The convergence of those three devices into one will simplify our work flow.. but up to now 2mp camera phones haven't offered the image quality or resolution we need. If these cameras give image quality half as good as what is shown in the sample picture... we'll be simplifying our lives for sure.

[Magallanes @ Nov 13th 2008 11:12AM]

I agree.

http://www.navigadget.com/wp-content/postimages/2007/03/n95-sample-033.jpg

For me (a common user) this picture looks great and is fine for home user.

[Plothole @ Nov 13th 2008 7:41PM]

That sample picture is showing very obvious detail blur, even scaled down as it is.

[Eric @ Nov 13th 2008 10:38AM]

Hey, clue-impaired camera makers...

...how about a 2 megapixel sensor that isn't CRAP first? Then let's talk about wasting more space in my phone!

Sheesh.

[IK @ Nov 13th 2008 1:06PM]

get something with a CCD

like the sharp 903

or the sony k800

those cameras are pretty good

much better than any cmos in a phone

[jitty @ Nov 13th 2008 11:18AM]

hey just a question, would a 12MP picture taken by this phone, skewed to 1/4 it size (scale height and width by 50%) Produce a 3MP photo that is that is pretty good or better than the 12MP original? Would skewing it to 1/9 the size do it?

[kb2zuz @ Nov 13th 2008 11:25AM]

Forget the cameraphones, I want Minox to grab up the sensors and start making some sweet spy cameras (you know, with decent optics.)

[Chibi @ Nov 13th 2008 11:37AM]

Okay seriously what's the fawning and drooling over megapixel counts these days?
They are just but numbers only. So what if the camera is going to have 19027834 megapixels?
I bet a DSLR with only 8 MP will still beat the hell out of these gimmicky megapixel-fantastic phone cameras.


Go get a life Sony.

[Chad @ Nov 13th 2008 3:10PM]

A DSLR with 6 megapixels would kill this thing... for example, a Nikon D70.

[StalematE @ Nov 13th 2008 12:22PM]

next they're just going to say fuck it and put a phone in a DSLR. Man would that be awkward.

[bangladeshiluv @ Nov 13th 2008 12:54PM]

would be nice to be able to use as a webcam via usb or, better yet, wireless.

[Chad @ Nov 13th 2008 3:11PM]

Ya, bluetooth webcam.

[Xerxes @ Nov 14th 2008 1:39PM]

A race for dumbs! And nothing.

[psfour @ Nov 13th 2008 4:05PM]

If you want good pictures you buy a proper camera but camera phones are just a phone with a camera put in it. There are not meant to take top quaility pictures. And be 5 times bigger just to accomadate a better lens.

[BratPAQ @ Nov 13th 2008 4:52PM]

if i were sony, id take the W model of their digicam and slap a phone module in it.

[Magallanes @ Nov 15th 2008 5:06AM]

OMFG, it is one of those weird thread where a lot of users comment to want to stick with a outdated 2005-2004 technology with not a apparent reason.

[peterjohndean1 @ Nov 16th 2008 7:49AM]

In a camera phone this is ridiculous. My Sony Ericsson has a 2 mp sensor and gives very good pictures indeed. The files are not huge and the lens is well suited to the sensor.