Camera Sensors: Four Components to Image Quality

CAMERA SENSORS:

Four Components to Image Quality

Andrew Silvers

Future Times Productions Publishing

Copyright 2018 Future Times Productions Publishing

Hendersonville, NC

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form including electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without written permission prior to use of any portion. Email me at [email protected] with any questions.

The contents of this book are not to be taken as strict fact, as they are the opinions and observations of the author over many years. The contents are well researched and prepared, but not guaranteed accurate. Any images are property of the author and Future Times Productions unless otherwise stated. Any copyrighted images are used strictly for educational purposes for the benefit of informing the reader.

Cover photo by Andrew Silvers

ISBN: 978-0-359-13861-6

Self-published using Lulu.com

Version: 3

Print Run: 2

© 2018 Andrew Silvers

Table of Contents

Introduction

Defining Key Terms

Resolution

-          Common Resolutions

-          Movie Camera Resolutions

-          Utilizing High Resolutions

Dynamic Range

-          What is Dynamic Range

-          Movie Camera Dynamic Range

-          Utilizing HDR

Color Reproduction/Bit Depth

-          The Basics of Color

-          Movie Camera Color

-          Utilizing Billions of Colors

Low Light Performance

-          How Cameras Capture Dark Scenes

-          Movie Cameras in Low Light

-          Utilizing High ISO’s

Conclusion

References

About the Author

Introduction

What is the point of this book you may be wondering. The idea was the result of having to explain to friends and family what makes a camera good. They would get a new Canon Rebel T6i and assume it can do it all. They say, It has 24 megapixels, that’s good right? and I would say, Yeah in a way.

During my time at retail outlet Sam’s Club, I would often get people asking if a particular technology (HDR, 4k, etc.) resulted in the best image quality, and I would say that it depends. It depends on the technology the manufacturer is using, but also the camera used to capture the footage you’re watching. That’s actually what I want to focus on – video. A lot of what I’ll cover applies to photography, but just be aware I plan to focus on video.

This book will dive into camera sensors and discuss what I believe to be the four main components to image quality: resolution, dynamic range, color reproduction/bit depth, and low-light performance. There are other components to making a final video with that Hollywood je ne sais quoi that every videographer and filmmaker wants like composition, lighting, and camera moves. However, I will mostly focus on things that the camera sensor gives you. A great filmmaker can make any sensor seem good with great filmmaking techniques but having a great sensor doesn’t hurt either. This book also focuses mostly on cinema cameras, as those are my specialty, but much of what I write can be applied to any digital camera. I will discuss what Hollywood professionals use and how they utilize high quality sensors. This book will analyze the four components to sensor quality and what the practical effects are on your image or any image you’re viewing.

Defining Key Terms

We are going to discuss some very technical aspects of camera technology so it’s relevant to define some key terms. These terms will appear frequently throughout the book, but some terms are specific to a section and will be defined later.

Camera: a device used to capture visual images including