Canon 250-Megapixel Sensor can Read the Side of a Plane from 11 Miles Away

Canon’s 250 Megapixel APS-H CMOS Sensor

Everything tends to get under surveillance more than ever now as drones tend to get cheaper and the cameras far more advanced. Canon has now come up with a 250 megapixel APS-H CMOS sensor which could be used in a DSLR.

It is an APS-H size sensor which is about 80% of the length and width of full frame sensor. It seems to be a bit larger than the popular APS-C setup. This has the capabilities of distinguishing letters on the side of flying airplane at a distance of 12 miles. This sensor could be utilised in spy cameras sometimes in the near future.

The Japanese giant camera claims that the 19,580 x 12,600 pixel sensor has set a world record in its size for resolution. This means that each pixel is around 1.5 microns, almost similar as an iPhone 6. One can imagine what the new sensor as an array of 30 perfectly aligned and high speed smartphone sensors could do. The CMOS sensors tend to increase pixel counts.

The consequence can increase signal volume which could result in problems as signal delays.However the APS-H tends to have a fast signal readout speed of around 1.25 billion a second. It is said to produce crisp images.

Videos Can be Cropped & Magnified

Besides taking photos from far-fetched distance, the sensor portrays its high speed by being capable of writing out over 1 billion pixels per second, permitting to capture 250MP video at 5fpsThe footage is shot sharper at 30 times than 4K or 125 times that of a Full HD video.

The videos could also be cropped and magnified without the need of losing image resolution and clarity.Canon has informed that the sensor could be utilised one day in specialised surveillance and crime prevention tools, ultra-high resolution measuring instruments as well as other industrial equipment.

This would mean that when spies may get their hands on technology, it would not appear in a standard DSLR camera in the years to come. As Cannon is looking forward in marketing its new sensor to specific audiences comprising of surveillance, industrial equipment and much more, it could be helpful to make way for practical light-field camera as well.

Future of Imaging

However the big issue with light-field products like the ones from Lytro is the amount of resolution they give up to gain their ability in capturing dimensionality and change focus in post-production. Ren Ng, the founder of Lytro had made it transparent that the company had been built on the premise which sensor resolution would tend to continue on improvement, making the compromise more reasonable.

Based on how much of the light-field that a camera may be designed to capture, it could lessen the native sensor resolution from about 10% to 90%. With a native resolution of 250MP, even a 90% resolution would probably produce a respectable 25MP image.

As Canon continues to make headway with its recent announcement of ultra-high definition megapixel sensors, there seems to be some interesting ideas for the future of imaging. Application for ultra-high definition sensor tend to differ, however, they would be utilised in government surveillance, astrophotography or space exploration and geological surveillance.