Sony’s reputation for producing top quality full frame cameras is coming on in leaps and bounds with cameras like the A7R . So how could it invent an image sensor which exposes different parts of an image differently, not by using multiple shots , but all at once on a per-pixel basis ? That’s what Sony have dreamed up in a recent patent.
Discovered by SonyAlphaForum, the patent was published on October 30th. It shows a sensor that can expose individual pixels differently depending on where the darker parts and lighter parts of the scene are.
So dark shadows would become ‘long exposure pixels’ while bright highlights would become ‘short exposure pixels,’ essentially spitting out a high dynamic range image without the need to take multiple exposures and combine them.
The big problem is that taking a picture of a fast moving object could be difficult if not impossible when some pixels are exposed longer than others. But Sony addresses this issue in the patent.
They have suggested using a ‘sensitivity-specific interpolation process’ to come up with a final image by combining an entire short and entire long exposure version and to avoid blur , similar to traditional multiple exposure HDR.
You can take a closer look at the technology by reading the full, not to say fairly obscure to the layman ie me and you , patent by clicking here.