IP: Digital camera sensor breakthrough?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/11/technology/11FOVE.html


Auto-abstract

AN FRANCISCO, Feb. 10 --- If Carver Mead is right, photographic film is an 
endangered species.

And on Monday his Silicon Valley start-up, Foveon, plans to begin shipping 
a new type of digital image sensor that outside experts agree is the first 
to match or surpass the photographic capabilities of 35-millimeter film.

The company's sensor chip is being used in a single-lens reflex camera that 
Sigma, a Japanese camera and lens maker, plans to begin selling for about 
$3,000 later this month.

A second generation of Foveon's sensors is scheduled for shipping this fall 
and, if other camera makers embrace it, could become available early next 
year in more popular brands of digital cameras selling for less than $1,000.

The first new sensor the company is now shipping is made by National 
Semiconductor (news/quote) and will have approximately 3.53 million pixels.

Such a resolution would put the device in the middle of the market for 
digital image sensor chips used in digital still and video cameras.

Because of the new technology's color-capturing technique, however, its 
designers say it is actually comparable to existing sensors with 7 million 
pixels that are currently available only in cameras costing $6,000 or more.

"It will completely transform the industry," George Gilder, an economist 
and an information industry analyst, said of Foveon's sensor.

"We've been very aware of what they're doing and monitoring their 
progress," said Madhav Mehra, manager of Kodak's professional 
digital-capture group.

If Foveon is to realize its goal of becoming a dominant player in the 
market for digital image sensors, the company will need to attract 
manufacturers like Kodak.

"I have no doubts this is a great technology," said Chris Chute, a senior 
analyst at the International Data Corporation, a research house.

Still, photography experts say Foveon's approach to sensors could be the 
most significant breakthrough in digital photography since the original 
black-and-white sensor was invented at Bell Laboratories in 1969.


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