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Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
first video camera with this record breaking technology.

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"Jorge Prediguez" <jorge@iamgr8.com> wrote in message
news:d38ab2c0.0406291423.186a8dae@posting.google.com...
> Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> first video camera with this record breaking technology.

Sounds like a broken record to me, too.

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jorge@iamgr8.com (Jorge Prediguez) writes:

> Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> first video camera with this record breaking technology.

They don't need a new sensor. <http://www.foveon.com/faq_oem.html>
question 4: "Can Foveon X3 direct image sensors be used for video?".

This won't be "the best video quality ever", though it would offer
much of the advantage of a 3-chip camera in a much cheaper package.

--
-Stephen H. Westin
Any information or opinions in this message are mine: they do not
represent the position of Cornell University or any of its sponsors.

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"Stephen H. Westin" <westin*nospam@graphics.cornell.edu> wrote in message
news:s0659aat99.fsf@diesel.graphics.cornell.edu...
> jorge@iamgr8.com (Jorge Prediguez) writes:
>
> > Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> > guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> > first video camera with this record breaking technology.
>
> They don't need a new sensor. <http://www.foveon.com/faq_oem.html>
> question 4: "Can Foveon X3 direct image sensors be used for video?".
>
> This won't be "the best video quality ever", though it would offer
> much of the advantage of a 3-chip camera in a much cheaper package.

Actually, it wouldn't -- it's primary advantage would be size and weight.
3-chip video cameras offer exceptional color reproduction because dichroic
prisms split the light into primary colors, each of which is directed to a
monochrome sensor. The result is high color accuracy without interpolation
or approximation, as well as excellent low-light performance, as there is no
light loss involved, except that small amount attributable to the prism.
Foven chips use silicon like a filter -- color is determined based on the
depth of penetration of photons into a silicon substrate. Color accuracy is
dependent on interpolation and, as with any filter, there is light loss.

A Foven-based camcorder might be an improvement, possibly even a dramatic
improvement, over single-CCD camcorders, assuming the sensor was of
sufficient size. No Foveon-based camcorder will produce results equivalent
to a good 3-CCD prosumer unit, e.g. VX2000, GL2 or XL1, absent significant
improvements in the underlying technology.


>
> --
> -Stephen H. Westin
> Any information or opinions in this message are mine: they do not
> represent the position of Cornell University or any of its sponsors.

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is this the infamous orville again?

i'm still not convinced of buying anything named 'sigma' since i always
associate it with a bad experience with a similarly named automobile.
and with all this foveon this and that spamming, isn't it going to give that
manufacturer, let alone that camera, negative outlooks rather than getting
people to try it for themselves?

meh, probably talking to a brick wall anyway.


"Jorge Prediguez" <jorge@iamgr8.com> wrote in message
news:d38ab2c0.0406291423.186a8dae@posting.google.com...
> Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> first video camera with this record breaking technology.

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"this old user" <nguser2u@spamnot4metwoAOL.com> wrote in message
news:V2mEc.19612$Fo4.260117@typhoon.sonic.net...
>
> "Jorge Prediguez" <jorge@iamgr8.com> wrote in message
> news:d38ab2c0.0406291423.186a8dae@posting.google.com...
> > Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> > guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> > first video camera with this record breaking technology.
>
> Sounds like a broken record to me, too.
>
>
When he said the sensors, (which are entirely passive) in other cameras
cause cancer, he lost all creditability with me............The only way they
could do that is if you tore them out of the camera and ate them......And
even then.......

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"Jorge Prediguez" <jorge@iamgr8.com> wrote in message
news:d38ab2c0.0406291423.186a8dae@posting.google.com...
> Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> first video camera with this record breaking technology.

All that work for a low resolution medium like TV???

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please link to your sources... or otherwise you are just spouting rumors

"Jorge Prediguez" <jorge@iamgr8.com> wrote in message
news:d38ab2c0.0406291423.186a8dae@posting.google.com...
> Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> first video camera with this record breaking technology.

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He can't even spell George correctly.

"Darrell Larose" <no@spam.com> wrote in message
news:nxqEc.613874$Ar.216233@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
>
> "Jorge Prediguez" <jorge@iamgr8.com> wrote in message
> news:d38ab2c0.0406291423.186a8dae@posting.google.com...
> > Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> > guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> > first video camera with this record breaking technology.
>
> All that work for a low resolution medium like TV???
>
>
>

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In article <d38ab2c0.0406291423.186a8dae@posting.google.com>, Jorge
Prediguez <jorge@iamgr8.com> wrote:

> Foveon is working on a new sensor for video cameras. This will
> guarantee the best video quality ever. Sigma will be releasing the
> first video camera with this record breaking technology.

C'mon George...

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PTRAVEL <ptravel88-usenet@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Actually, it wouldn't -- it's primary advantage would be size and weight.
>3-chip video cameras offer exceptional color reproduction because dichroic
>prisms split the light into primary colors, each of which is directed to a
>monochrome sensor. The result is high color accuracy without interpolation
>or approximation, as well as excellent low-light performance, as there is no
>light loss involved, except that small amount attributable to the prism.

As a side question: if full colour information in each pixel is not so
important (as has been repeated again and again here), why do higher end
camcorders use three CCDs and a prism to achieve it ?
--

Alfred Molon
------------------------------
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus_405080/
Olympus 5050 resource - http://www.molon.de/5050.html
Olympus 5060 resource - http://www.molon.de/5060.html
Olympus 8080 resource - http://www.molon.de/8080.html

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In article <MPG.1b4c7d5a15cbd6b598a6d9@news.supernews.com>,
Alfred Molon <alfred_molon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote:
>PTRAVEL <ptravel88-usenet@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>Actually, it wouldn't -- it's primary advantage would be size and weight.
>>3-chip video cameras offer exceptional color reproduction because dichroic
>>prisms split the light into primary colors, each of which is directed to a
>>monochrome sensor. The result is high color accuracy without interpolation
>>or approximation, as well as excellent low-light performance, as there is no
>>light loss involved, except that small amount attributable to the prism.
>
>As a side question: if full colour information in each pixel is not so
>important (as has been repeated again and again here), why do higher end
>camcorders use three CCDs and a prism to achieve it ?

It is all about trade-offs. If you can get full color information without
any loss in resolution, with same sensitivity and signal to noise ratio,
and in a convenient package, it is a better deal than a sensor that provides
a lower color resolution.

For video cameras, the resolution is more or less fixed, and compared to
the overall size of a (professional) video camera, using three sensors
is no big deal. I don't know about sensitivity issues. With analog video
cameras, you don't really want to do any complicated bayer pattern
image reconstruction. Maybe bayer pattern sensors make sense for HDTV
video cameras.

For photo cameras, bayer pattern sensors provide (at the moment) the best
trade-off in most cases.



--
The Electronic Monk was a labor-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video
recorder. [...] Video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving
you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electronic Monks believed things for
you, [...] -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

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"Alfred Molon" <alfred_molon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1b4c7d5a15cbd6b598a6d9@news.supernews.com...
SNIP
> As a side question: if full colour information in each pixel is not so
> important (as has been repeated again and again here), why do higher end
> camcorders use three CCDs and a prism to achieve it ?

It has been explained several times as well ;-)

Camcorders are limited in the number of pixels they can output, given the
bandwidth limits of the various video signals. The only improvement
possible, and given the limited image size not prohibitively expensive and
heavy, is color resolution (however little benefit it brings).

There are practical limits to increases in zoom range or low light
capability, so if one seeks to differentiate the product offering from
cheaper models in the line-up, slightly more accurate color quantization is
basically all that's left to do.

Digital still cameras are not bound as strictly to maximum image size in
pixels, so one can make a trade-off between fewer pixels with higher color
accuracy than the human eye can see in normal output, or adding more
sensors/pixels that increase luminance resolution AND improves color
accuracy, at the expense of higher storage size, lower capture frequency and
higher cost. Increasing the number of sensors is the avenue chosen by most,
also because the Bayer CFA sensor fabrication process is very mature and
relatively low cost due to high yield.

Bart

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On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 15:55:23 -0700, "PTRAVEL"
<ptravel88-usenet@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Actually, it wouldn't -- it's primary advantage would be size and weight.
>3-chip video cameras offer exceptional color reproduction because dichroic
>prisms split the light into primary colors, each of which is directed to a
>monochrome sensor.

So, you are saying that companies like Panavision, Arri, Kinetta and
Thomson are wrong using a one-chip for their high-end e-Cine camera's?
Interesting :)

cheers

-martin-

--
"Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright
until you hear them speak."

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"Georgette Preddy" <georgette_preddy@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1067e702.0406300259.7f53c7ba@posting.google.com...
> "PTRAVEL" <ptravel88-usenet@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:<2keaauF1gc8lU1@uni-berlin.de>...
>
> > A Foven-based camcorder might be an improvement, possibly even a
dramatic
> > improvement, over single-CCD camcorders, assuming the sensor was of
> > sufficient size. No Foveon-based camcorder will produce results
equivalent
> > to a good 3-CCD prosumer unit, e.g. VX2000, GL2 or XL1, absent
significant
> > improvements in the underlying technology.
>
> The new Foveon P&S due out soon is rumored to have better video
> quality than any consumer video device, and rivlas 3 chip pro designs.
> Not a bad deal for a $300 pocket P&S. It is also rumor to be able to
> capture full size 4.5MP still shots while it is shooting video.

Rumoured by you.

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"Georgette Preddy" <georgette_preddy@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1067e702.0406300259.7f53c7ba@posting.google.com...
SNIP
> The new Foveon P&S due out soon is rumored to have better video
> quality than any consumer video device, and rivlas 3 chip pro designs.
> Not a bad deal for a $300 pocket P&S. It is also rumor to be able to
> capture full size 4.5MP still shots while it is shooting video.

You are wrong, again, as usual.

It is a Polaroid P&S, and captures 1440 x 1080 pixels (1.56 MP):
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0406/ [...] eonf19.asp
This will, in addition to still images, produce video clip capture at VGA
(!) resolution.

Bart

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Alfred Molon wrote:

> As a side question: if full colour information in each pixel is not so
> important (as has been repeated again and again here), why do higher end
> camcorders use three CCDs and a prism to achieve it ?

Perhaps because requirements for video are somewhat different than for
stills.

For example, my TV displays at 35dpi. That's utterly unacceptable for
a print but seems to work fine on the telly. In fact I've looked at big
expensive TVs in shops that are probably less than 20dpi and it's
surprising how close a viewing distance you can use before the lack of
resolution becomes intrusive. I can't explain why this should be, but
it suggests that something different is going on with motion pictures
than static ones, and assumptions about quality requirements made for
one should not be carried over to the other.

Alternatively it may just be a marketing phenomenon. Note that most
video delivery systems (including analog PAL,NTSC, digital MPEG-1,2)
have reduced chroma resolution.

- Len

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"Alfred Molon" <alfred_molon@REMOVEyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1b4c7d5a15cbd6b598a6d9@news.supernews.com...
> PTRAVEL <ptravel88-usenet@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >Actually, it wouldn't -- it's primary advantage would be size and weight.
> >3-chip video cameras offer exceptional color reproduction because
dichroic
> >prisms split the light into primary colors, each of which is directed to
a
> >monochrome sensor. The result is high color accuracy without
interpolation
> >or approximation, as well as excellent low-light performance, as there is
no
> >light loss involved, except that small amount attributable to the prism.
>
> As a side question: if full colour information in each pixel is not so
> important (as has been repeated again and again here), why do higher end
> camcorders use three CCDs and a prism to achieve it ?

"Full color information" is a meaningless phrase. All camcorder sensors
provide full color information. What varies is how they do it.

I've described, in this thread, why a Foveon chip-equipped camcorder will
not produce as good an image as a 3-ccd camcorder.


> --
>
> Alfred Molon
> ------------------------------
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Olympus_405080/
> Olympus 5050 resource - http://www.molon.de/5050.html
> Olympus 5060 resource - http://www.molon.de/5060.html
> Olympus 8080 resource - http://www.molon.de/8080.html

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06-30-2004 at 09:30:16 PM
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