TECHNOLOGY
There are essentially 3 technologies behind a
digital camera.They are:
1. Optical Technology: The
eyes - where different lights meet
The lens
is similar to a human's eyes. What you see is what you get. If your eyesight
is poor, you see fuzzy images. Similarly, if your lens is of poor quality,
the image will be blurred. See how Canon's sixty years of optics know-how
has managed to produce superior lenses that correct aberrations and ensures
colour accuracy.
2. Sensor Technology: The retina - receives and transfers
images to the brain
Read how Canon's sensor technology ensures correct reading of light.
This is the 'brain' of the camera. It processes the image data and determines
the image quality. It also controls the speed and performance of the camera
like the time taken to record an image onto a memory card. Read how Canon's
newly developed image processor, DIGIC, improves
quality and processing speed.
Read about new technology iSAP which enables more
accurate camera settings.
Lights are supposed to be directed onto a sensor
to reproduce the image. Each colour of lights has different wavelengths.
If the lens cannot direct lights accurately onto the sensor, there will
be imperfections, which adversely affect the sharpness and colour accuracy
of the produced picture.
Canon is able to correct the various aberrations by producing aspherical
lens that are made from fluorite or UD glass lens. She has also devised
a system of positioning additional lenses with unique shapes in strategic
places to eliminate additional aberrations that might occur during the
zooming process.
Aspherical lens can reproduce images more accurately
The CCD is a monochrome device. It needs a colour
filter to produce a colour image. Each primary colour (eg red, green and
blue) is placed on an individual pixel. The coloured filter then filters
out all but the chosen colours for that pixel. The camera then combines
the coloured pixel with its neighbouring pixels to produce the final image.
Traditionally, images are produced using traditional cyan-yellow-green-magenta
colour filter. However, they are generally lacking details and intensity.
Canon has overcome this shortcoming by using a green-red-green-blue filter,
which produces richer and more natural colours.
It's a chip that develops the image inside the digital camera.
DIGIC (Digital Imaging Core) is a "specialised" and "dedicated"
chip to develop images for digital cameras. It's a first-of-its kind processor
that puts six key elements important in a digital camera into one chip:
- CCD control, Auto Exposure/Auto Focus/ Auto White Balance, Signal processing,
JPEG compression/ expansion, memory card control and Display (colour LCD,
video output)
With several new algorithms added, DIGIC gives stunning image quality,
super-fast processing speed with large-capacity buffering and low power
consumption.
DIGIC ensures that no noise (Tiny white dots or streaks in pictures) is created when the image is captured and gives a wider dynamic range (range between brightest and darkest part of an image).
Being a "dedicated" processor for digital camera, DIGIC has a
shorter processing time. Therefore images are saved into a memory card at
a fast speed, thus freeing the buffer capacity of the digital camera and
allowing more shots to be taken.
Because of the fast processing speed, the digital cameras consume lesser
power and batteries last longer when compared with competitors.
Canon has accumulated a vast amount of photographic know-how to determine
the type of settings needed to best capture an image. This experience
is built into a database.
When the automatic mode on the camera is switched on,
the camera will analyse the scene. Then it will refer to this database
to determine the best camera setting (eg amount of exposure, the type
of lighting, size of aperture) that will best express the image. This
proprietary technology is known as iSAPs
Click here to read more about technology.
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