Monday, November 11, 2013

Panasonic Announces Lowest Noise Sensor on the Market, More

Panasonic announces MN34230PL, a 4/3-inch 16.4MP CMOS image sensor for FourThirds format DSLRs. The sensor is said to be the "Lowest noise sensor in the market" and features "New “On Chip Filter” for improved sensitivity":


The other newly announced sensors are 1/3-inch 1.33MP MN34210PL and 1/2.86-inch 2.36MP MN34220PL for security applications. The sensors feature WDR mode and speeds of 60fps at full resolution.

13 comments:

  1. How can you claim to be the "lowest noise sensor in the market" but in the mean while not telling how much the nosie is?

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  2. Math professor explained to us the "infinitely small" when we were at high school: the smaller than any value that you can give. So Panasonic's noise is smaller than any value that you can give !

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  3. I think the most important feature of MN34230PL is 4K @30fps video support -- first time for the Micro Four Thirds sized sensor. The up to 481fps frame rate is also a valuable addition.
    I guess the improvements have been also made to their on-chip noise elimination circuit, which proved to work well on the Panasonic Lumix GX7 and GM1 cameras.

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  4. "lowest noise sensor in the market" but no noise number??

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  5. Are they using parallel SD ADCs as in their IISW13 paper?

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  6. If the noise is so low, how come they only need 12 Bit ADC?
    I guess it is their best, not the market best.

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    1. You can achieve very low noise with 12bit ADC. Just need to apply gain in front. See sCMOS sensors: ~1e- noise with 11bit ADCs

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    2. Of course they can have low noise level regardless of the ADC bit depth. Yet it can be taken advantage of if the ADC is 12 Bit only.
      Since there's no logic in that I don't think it is the lowest on the market for any sensor it is only the lowest 4/3 sensor.

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  7. I think they mean the sensor makes low noise :)

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  8. 4K 30 fps means nothing in the world of video capture. Unusable. 4K 60 fps to 150 fps is the accepted norm right now.

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    1. It seems to me the 4K 30fps is only 10 bit. In 12 bit frame rate will be 24 fps.
      (3560/2160 * frame rate in full resolution)

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    2. In fact, what most movie makers would want is 24p.
      Anything higher just looks like a soap opera, no matter what James Cameron or Peter Jackson try to sell you. Higher framerates are great for sports and for epic establishing shots, but once you get close to your actors it just looks awful.

      Also, if this is the same sensor from the GX7, noise is indeed quite low, but not lowest.
      http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors/Compare-cameras-side-by-side/(appareil1)/901%7C0/(brand)/Panasonic/(appareil2)/850%7C0/(brand2)/Nikon/(appareil3)/792%7C0/(brand3)/Nikon

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    3. 4K 60/150p is the accepted norm? :)

      The world is 1080p/2K and 720p is still popular.
      The best digital cinema camera is only 2.8K (Arri Alexa).

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