sigma talks foveon video

Video would actually seem to be an ideal use of the Foveon tech. I hope they succeed and get some buyers.
 
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that would be spectacular; the Foveons are a woefully underestimated DSLR lineup.
 
Each pixel actually records all three colors, instead of the bayer pattern approach that most CMOS cameras use that use a filter over every pixel that allow only one color through.

They do this by using the fact that different color wavelengths penetrate deeper into the silicon. This way, they use this depth as a way to filter between the colors. It's a pretty awesome technology. Up till now, the speed of getting the information off the sensor has been pretty slow, but it sounds like they've fixed that.

Wouldn't that be something if Sigma ends up pushing a new line of sensors at some point to take us in a new direction. I've been reading about these sensors for at least a year and am very excited by them.
 
I don't know much about Foveon tech, but the logic behind much higher color reproduction is intriguing. As is the similarity to film emulsion in terms of multiple effective imaging planes (one per color).
 
They've been saying they are 2-3 years away from video for a lot longer than 2-3 years.
 
It's good on paper but in real comparisons with bayer it comes out inferior. Even when it's using much larger pixels, it's inferior in low light because they waste too much light in the layer filters. The sharpness advantage is also lost because a bayer sensor can have a lot more pixels while maintaining a low light advantage.

There are solutions that are better than bayer using the same sensor technology, filters of 4 different colors instead of R,G,B filters. Beter demosaicking with less artifacts and using simpler algorithms.

3CCD/3CMOS does work well also, it just costs more than 3x more for the sensor, its support electronics and the beam splitting prism assembly. It does have certain requirements in lenses though, so the bayer pattern will probably be with us for another decade at least.
 
Maybe someone can test one of these new cameras when they come out. I've just never seen any definite tests, and the they say they've redesigned the entire thing so who knows. I know how much CMOS has progressed from some of the early versions, and that is A LOT! :)
 
I'm a big FOVEON fan. I have a Sigma SD15 DSLR (and previously the SD14). Totally underrated, IMHO. I think their SD1 DSLR is going to be fantastic for stills. A Sigma video cam with FOVEON could be something really, really great. Looking forward to the future! :)
 
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I'm a big FOVEON fan. I have a Sigma SD15 DSLR (and previously the SD14). Totally underrated, IMHO. I think their SD1 DSLR is going to be fantastic for stills. A Sigma video cam with FOVEON could be something really, really great. Looking forward to the future! :)
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Has anyone taken a picture with the fovean and a bayer sensor camera with comparable sized sensors and resized to the same resolution, also using the same lens? I'm just curious to see how it looks. I searched around but didn't find anything.

:)
 
the dp1 and dp2 both shoot video but only at qvga resolution.

actually the dp1 was the first still camera with a large image sensor to incorporate a video mode, predating the 5d mark 2 and the d90 buy quite a bit if i recall.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5it1z_sigma-dp1-video-sample_tech

i've always thought the quality is astounding for such a low res capture, i find it very easy to believe that their 1080 tests are top notch, i can't see sigma releasing a video camera though, maybe after waiting for another 5 years we'll get 30p with no manual exposure mode.

If you're listening sigma push the "film like quality" marketing and make a digital cinema camera! come on you know you can do it!!
 
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