Sony's 3-layer CMOS smartphone sensor: 1Gb DRAM included

[dizmo]

Smartphone cameras just keep getting better and better as they attempt to squash what's left of the pocket camera market.

DPAF, dual camera, 4k, excellent low light, frickin' laser beams super fast shutter speeds, almost instant auto focus; they're quite impressive.

Yeah, you youngins might not appreciate them, but I used to have to go down to Save On to get my pictures developed before I got to even see them.

Sony released some interesting news lately, they've made the world's first 3 layer stacked CMOS image sensor with integrated DRAM for smartphones.

The 21.2MP, 1/2.3", 1.22µm sensor packs 1Gb of DRAM between the pixel layer and circuit layer.

Images and footage is stored on the DRAM chip, then exported to the phone's ISP for processing.

Basically the connection from the camera to the phone is much slower than from the camera to the chip.

 

Why should you care?

It greatly decreases the amount of time it takes to process a picture, going from 1/30 of a second down to 1/120. I know, just numbers, so here's pictures.

 

 

This picture is 1/30                                                                                

 

This picture is 1/120

 

The train is moving in the photo, and that's why we're to be impressed. Which I am, or might be if it shows up in enough cameras that already took excellent pictures.

 

Oh, yeah. There's also the fact that it can capture 1000fps clips in full 1080p.

It words it as being able to "seamlessly combine normal speed movies and super slow motion movies" so I don't think you'll be recording lengthy slow motion sets. It's the first iteration though, so it'll only get better.

There's also adjustable settings that will detect sudden subject movement and record super high speed footage, though how well that works in practice will have to be seen.

I don't have high hopes for that feature.

 

Naturally, there's a video.

Unfortunately there was no info about how much slow motion footage could be captured at any given time. I don't imagine it's much with the limited storage.

 

Pretty neat, if not a little gimmicky. I think the fact that photos can be captured with less distortion or hopefully greatly reduced motion blur is a much more interesting improvement.

Plus, since it's only the first iteration it'll only improve as we move forward. A module with 10Gb of DRAM for image processing? Now that'd be awesome.

I imagine we'll see these on phone next year, or perhaps a Pixel 2017. Maybe the Note8, though I doubt it.

Now if only phone manufacturers could realize how easy and awesome a dedicated camera button would be...

 

What do you guys think? Do you take enough photos with your phone to care about the camera improvements?

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/sonys_new_image_sensor_can_shoot_1080p__1000fps_video_thanks_to_onchip_ram-blog-23250.php

Source: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201702/17-013E/index.html

 

 

[vanished]

so TL;DR: They've reduced the rolling shutter problem and can do super high fps 1080p video.  Nice  

 

As for killing the pocket camera market, I think that's already happened.  Basically it's a decision between convenience (smartphone) and quality (DSLR) at this point... pocket cameras only give you the worst of both worlds  

[Droidbot]

now this

this is cool

 

the part with the dog jumping is amazing in that video, but the low framerate is strange

[MegaDave91]

That dog's manhood almost collided with the bar.

[Nowak]

59 minutes ago, dizmo said:

The 21.2MP, 1/2.3", 1.22µm sensor packs 1Gb of DRAM between the pixel layer and circuit layer.

So, it only packs 125MB of DRAM between the pixel and circuit?

 

Capitalization is important, yo. It's the difference between gigabyte (GB) and gigabit (Gb).

[Belgarathian]

*shot on iPhone Anniversary edition prototype. 

[TheRandomness]

1 hour ago, MegaDave91 said:

That dog's manhood almost collided with the bar.

Of course that's the only thing you notice about the video.

 

Now we need 120000fps capable smartphone cameras. 

[CtW]

I hope they make the native dynamic range and low light performance not shit. If I could get clean images at iso3200 from a smartphone that would be great.

[Doobeedoo]

Very awesome! This would definitely be my interest in future phone. That's a ton of FPS

[mynameisjuan]

Finally, slow motion in a phone where it actually means slow motion. Not this 480p 240fps crap in most phones. 

 

Good work Sony!

[dizmo]

10 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

so TL;DR: They've reduced the rolling shutter problem and can do super high fps 1080p video.  Nice  

 

As for killing the pocket camera market, I think that's already happened.  Basically it's a decision between convenience (smartphone) and quality (DSLR) at this point... pocket cameras only give you the worst of both worlds  

Mmm I think they still have their place. The ergonomics of a decent pocket camera still outweighs the smartphone, or when you go traveling and you don't want to bring your expensive phone.

9 hours ago, Daring said:

So, it only packs 125MB of DRAM between the pixel and circuit?

 

Capitalization is important, yo. It's the difference between gigabyte (GB) and gigabit (Gb).

I'm aware of the difference.

8 hours ago, huilun02 said:

What if I had a Gopro? 

What if?

[vanished]

8 hours ago, CtW said:

I hope they make the native dynamic range and low light performance not shit. If I could get clean images at iso3200 from a smartphone that would be great.

Particularly with regard to low light performance, that's kind of tricky with a sensor the size of a pinhead  

[Magnetorheological]

Now let's hope they can create software good enough to match the hardware. While the sensor is really good on my Z5P, image processing is falling behind the competition on similar/the same hardware.

[dizmo]

12 minutes ago, Magnetorheological said:

Now let's hope they can create software good enough to match the hardware. While the sensor is really good on my Z5P, image processing is falling behind the competition on similar/the same hardware.

That's dependent mostly on the company that implements it. Most companies use a Sony sensor.

[Thony]

Damn that FPS ! :-O

[Magnetorheological]

11 hours ago, dizmo said:

That's dependent mostly on the company that implements it. Most companies use a Sony sensor.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. Sony for whatever reason makes great sensors, but just so-so software that gets outperformed by a lot of their customers' implementations. Being a user of an Xperia Z5P, it's just a bit disappointing. You would think the originator would have the best implementation of their own hardware, but it's just not the case with Xperia phones. It's no where near bad, in fact far from it, but just isn't as good as others.