Samsung's 108MP camera sensor is getting official on August 12

09 August 2019
Expect to see it in a Xiaomi phone first, probably the Mi Mix 4.

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  • Anonymous
  • t@g
  • 10 Aug 2019

sadh, 10 Aug 2019Only PureView does the job. 41MP with 1/1.2 sensor size and... moreNokia??? You mean Toshiba sensor, because Nokia don't have capabilities to make a camera sensor.

    Pabliell, 10 Aug 2019I have a question. Why stop at binning 4 pixels? I mean 108... moreLosing more detail. Pixel bining mostly to reduce noise for low ISO / low light situation. However, they need to account artifact generated by demosaic algorithm. More pixel to combine means harder to develop sufficient algorithm to fight artifacts and detail lost

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • LQu
      • 10 Aug 2019

      sadh, 10 Aug 2019Only PureView does the job. 41MP with 1/1.2 sensor size and... moreNokia 808 and 1020 do downsampling. The dont do binning.
      Those kind of sensors did not exist yet. Those sensors were from Toshiba, binning was created by Sony.

      41MP downsampled to 5MP in theory (if lenses could resolve 41MP) would give details of 41MP photos, but amount of noise and file size of a 5MP photo.

      Same thing Xperia Z series do.20.7 MP downsampled to 8MP.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • LQu
        • 10 Aug 2019

        Pabliell, 10 Aug 2019I have a question. Why stop at binning 4 pixels? I mean 108... moreQuadbayer (Sony ) and new Tetracell (Samsung) combine 4 pixels into 1.

        Two of these 4 are long exposure and the other 2 are short exposure. This is done to increase Dynamic Range. You can't do with odd number. With 9 you would have to combine 5 from one type and 4 from the other type.

        And the idea of 64 and 108 is to give more details than 12. Smartphones dont have great lenses like cameras.
        You take 12MP but dont have 12MP in details, reason 12MP from phone looks crappy compared to 12MP from a camera.

          • s
          • sadh
          • Ki3
          • 10 Aug 2019

          Anonymous, 10 Aug 2019"so far, Quad Bayer sensors have been designed and engineer... moreOnly PureView does the job. 41MP with 1/1.2 sensor size and native 1.25 pixel size, they really combine 7 pixel into 5mp sharp and clear image. The true 38mp resolution is also there.
          Not only 5mp, they actually can go for 3, 5, and 8mp. This also give benefits such as lossless zoom which bayer cant do.

          Imagine if Nokia does this 41mp thing again BUT combined with periscope?

            • T
            • T M
            • IbE
            • 10 Aug 2019

            Meh, just marketing spec hype. 108mp is overkill.

              I have a question. Why stop at binning 4 pixels? I mean 108 MPix nicely divides by 9 into 12 MPix . Meaning 3 by 3 array could be used. 9 pixels into one, instead of "traditional" 4.
              I don't see any point in shooting 27 MPix photos, 12 MPix sounds more reasonable.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • pQr
                • 10 Aug 2019

                Anonymous, 10 Aug 2019What's with all the megapixels that won't actually bring an... moreYes, it would be better to have a low resolution camera (not quad bayer) and a high resolution camera (not quad bayer) because Quad Bayer sensors produce terrible demosaicing artifacts. But apparently this would be too expensive for smartphone manufacturers currently. The Quad Bayer sensor has the advantage that it can give you more continuous zoom (but with demosaicing artifacts) without the costs of an additional high resolution camera.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • pQr
                  • 10 Aug 2019

                  Anonymous, 10 Aug 2019"so far, Quad Bayer sensors have been designed and engineer... moreThe reasons for Quad Bayer sensors are
                  more continuous zoom, an optional high resolution mode without the costs of an additional camera, marketing and an optional HDR mode, which uses a different HDR technique. You don't get more details/less noise compared with a sensor of the same size that already has pixels that are 4 times as large.
                  A better idea would be a low resolution Bayer sensor (not quad) and a high resolution Bayer sensor (not quad), but this would be more expensive.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • s2g
                    • 10 Aug 2019

                    What's with all the megapixels that won't actually bring any benefits? Why not have a 12MP 1/1.7" sensor or even a 1/1" sensor?

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • pQr
                      • 10 Aug 2019

                      "so far, Quad Bayer sensors have been designed and engineered to shoot at 1/4 of their native resolution, 'turning' 4 pixels into one for added detail."
                      That's not true, unless you mean more details than the full resolution mode in low-light conditions due to less noise. Apart from HDR tricks, there is no advantage over a sensor of the same size with pixels that are 4 times as large. Pixel binning is often confused with downsampling. Only downsampling gives you more details than a sensor with 4 times less pixels, hardware pixel binning doesn't do that. Furthermore the Quad Bayer sensors produce demosaicing artifacts that are still noticeable if you downsample. So the summary is: Pixel binning does nothing else than making a sensor behave like the same sensor with less pixels. There is no advantage regarding details or noise compared with a sensor of the same size that has less pixels.

                        That would be pretty cool. 27 MP main images will probably be a step above the usual 12 MP

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