Kodak promises ultra-small 5MP phone camera
updated 01:15 pm EST, Mon February 4, 2008
Kodak 5MP Ultra-Small Cam
Kodak today said it had developed a new camera sensor that could allow all phones, not just large models, to include a quality camera. The photography firm says it has successfully reduced the individual pixel sizes for a 5-megapixel camera from more than 1.7 microns to just 1.4. By using an enhanced CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor, the advance allows smaller sensors to fit into extremely tight spaces without sacrificing actual image quality, according to Kodak. The camera maker also claims that more of the sensors will fit on a given production wafer, potentially driving down the costs of normally expensive cameras that are limited to devices such as the Nokia N95 or the LG Viewty.
While the sensor is likely to be used by LG, which regularly builds Kodak-developed camera technology into its phones, the technology is not intended to be company-specific. The 5-megapixel sensor will be accessible to anyone who would like to license the technology for use in their own cameras, Kodak says. Samples will first be available to cellphone designers in the spring but are not believed to translate to production phones until the start of 2009.
bandwagon
02/04, 01:53pm reply
Wow, everyone is jumping on the wagon now. Come on, Microsoft. MSN phone should be a piece of cake consider loosing the first few years of $$$$$$ is no big deal.
coffeetime
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2006
Camera, not camera phone
02/04, 03:20pm reply
Gotta read carefully, coffeetime: it's a Kodak camera sensor, not a full-on phone. Kodak just doesn't have the experience that even Garmin has.
Commodus
Mac Elite
Joined: Feb 2002
Oops
02/04, 05:45pm reply
my bad...
coffeetime
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2006
i know this is wrong, but
02/04, 06:45pm reply
if people loved to sit their azz on copiers for fun, what on earth could this table recognize.
{dumbass sits on table naked}
Hello Sir, may i offer some viagra or male enhancements??
LOL
MiMiC
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2007
Pixel race is a bad thing
02/04, 08:49pm reply
The more pixels you have in a smaller space, the more noise. There are 6MP point-and-shoot cameras (the Fuji F31) that produce better images, even when printed at 8x12, than most 10MP cameras, with 4x the number of pixels.
If we want 5MP in a phone, we need a bigger lens and a bigger sensor to be squeezed into the phone, not a smaller lens and smaller sensor that will fit into existing designs.
tonton
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2001