A Color Sensor Delivering Pictures with Unique Purity
The SIGMA DP's the Foveon X3
® direct image sensor utilizes the
special properties of silicon, which
is penetrated to different depths
by different wavelengths of light,
to successfully achieve full-color
capture for the first time ever in
a single-chip configuration. No
color filter is required.
Since the Foveon X3® can
capture all the color information
in its three layers, the
aforementioned late-stage color
interpolation necessitated by the
Bayer filter image-sensor is not
required, and exquisite, nuanced
color expression can be created
in pixel-location units. Compared
with the color-fudging Bayer
filter image sensor, the Foveon
X3® takes color resolution to
a new and truly amazing level.
Since it does not need a color
filter, the direct image sensor
does not generate the color
artifacts that color filters, by their
very nature, tend to produce.
This, of course, means that no
optical low-pass filter is needed
either. This full-color capture
system can cope with all kinds
of high-frequency areas, and
capture the full complement
of colors. That's why the results
are both absolutely natural
and truly exquisite.
The
Bayer filter Image Sensor
The old-fashioned Bayer filter image sensor
can only capture 50% of the green color data,
and a mere 25% each of the blue and the red.
R: 100% G: 100% B: 100%
R: 25% G: 50% B: 25%
The
Foveon X3® Sensor
The Foveon X3® has three layers of
photosensors, enabling it to capture 100%
of the RGB color data at once.
16