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Other image sensors cannot match the SD10’s
true full-color capture system
Unlike the SIGMA SD10, other digital cameras’ image quality
is inherently compromised through the use of optical color
filters. Conventional CCD and CMOS image sensors have a
single layer of pixels. Each pixel detects only one color of
light, which has been filtered through a single red or green or
blue color filter. As a result, two-thirds of the color at each
pixel is blocked out. To compensate, the missing color is
estimated through a complicated process of color interpolation,
leading to color errors, color artifacts and loss of image detail.
FOVEON X3
®
direct image sensors, however, capture all three
colors at every pixel location, insuring the capture of full,
complete color.
FOVEON X3
®
direct image sensor brings new
vision to digital imaging.
The FOVEON X3
®
direct image sensor is the heart of the first
and only capture system that directly captures full color for
digital cameras. Using three silicon-embedded layers of pixel
sensors, stacked to take advantage of silicon’s ability to absorb
red, green, and blue light at different respective depths, the
FOVEON X3
®
direct image sensor can thereby directly capture
full color and detail at each and every pixel location, without
interpolation.
The results are a revelation: better color detail, fewer color
artifacts and three times the image sharpness, compared to that
delivered by conventional image sensors that capture color
indirectly through mosaic filters and color interpolation.
*
©1998-2003 Foveon, Inc. All rights reserved. Foveon, the stylized “F” logo, X3, and the X3
logo are registered trademarks of Foveon, Inc.
[ FOVEON X3
®
direct image sensor conceptual diagram ]
FOVEON Inc.
Founded in California in 1997,
FOVEON Inc. is world-renowned for direct image
sensor development and technology.
Digital
Digital photos have never looked quite as good as those taken on film. Until now. Only the SIGMA SD10 digital single-lens reflex camera
makes this major breakthrough. The FOVEON X3
®
direct image sensor with 10.2 million pixels efficiently reproduces color more
accurately, and offers sharper resolution, pixel for pixel, than any conventional CCD or CMOS image sensor. So you can capture more of
your vision in a truer light. Go ahead. Get more creative. The SIGMA SD10 puts the advantage of higher technology right in your hands.
CAPTURE ALL OF THE LIGHT-DIRECTLY.
The FOVEON X3
®
direct image sensor
comprises three
layers of pixel
sensors embed-
ded in silicon.
Silicon absorbs different
colors, or wavelengths, of
light at different depth, so
each layer captures a dif-
ferent color among R(red),
G(green) and B(blue). Full
color is directly captured at
each pixel location.
Only the FOVEON X3
®
image sensor captures
100% of the R(red),
G(green), and B(blue)
light at every pixel location.
[ FOVEON X3
®
direct image sensor technology diagram ]
[ Conventional image sensor technology diagram ]
A conventional
image sensor
features color
filters applied to a
single layer of pixel
sensors in a tiled
mosaic pattern.
The filters let only one
wavelength of light —
R(red), G(green), or
B(blue) — pass through
to any given pixel location.
The pixel location records
only that one color,so the
other information at that
site is lost.
As a result, conventional
mosaic image sensors
capture only 25% of the
R(red) 25% of the B(blue),
and 50% of the G(green)
light.