Samsung has published a new promotional video detailing the features of its new ISOCELL HP1 mobile image sensor.
In the three-minute video, Samsung Sensor Design Team member Minho Kwon shares the various technologies the HP1 sensor brings to mobile image. Specifically, he addresses the 0.64μm pixel size of the sensor, as well as its various pixel-binning modes, including the 4-to-1 pixel binning (to give an equivalent pixel size of 1.28μm) used when recording 8K video, as well as 16-to-1 pixel binning (to give an equivalent pixel size of 2.56μm) used in low-light environment for still images.
The HP1 sensor uses a color filter array in which each of the primary colors covers a 4 x 4 group of photodiodes (effectively a 12MP Bayer pattern). The camera then interpolates the missing R,G or B values within these 4×4 regions, in its high-res mode, using what Samsung calls its ‘re-mosaicing’ algorithm. This algorithm has been trained using machine learning to produce more plausible results than simple mathematical interpolation.
The pixel dimensions suggest the HP1 sensor is around 10.5 x 8mm. This is relative large for a smartphone, with a 13mm diagonal that would be classified as 1/1.2”-type, in the strange categorization system used by the sensor industry.
Minho Kwon also details Samsung’s Smart ISO technology, a dual-gain mode that intelligently switches between gain levels to achieve the maximum detail in both light and dark environments.
No new information is presented in the video, but it’s a great look into a pixel-packed sensor we’ll likely see inside next year’s flagship smartphones.
Author:
Gannon Burgett
Source: Dpreview
