4 ms·

I don’t think that’s the only reason. They also supply camera sensors for a lot of Smart phones.

Abishek_Muthian 7y ago
True, Samsung has started the megapixel wars again with their 108 megapixel ISOCELL sensor[1] which are being used by couple of manufacturers already & it would be interesting to how Sony responds to it. [1]https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/image-sensor/mobile-image-sensor/S5KHMX/ https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/image-sensor/mobile-im...
- AgloeDreams 7y ago
  Yes...but. Is the ISOCELL any good? It very much seems to be mostly numbers but it really can't back up the claims in actual visual image quality. The noise and required light to get anything near good shots is very high, the DOF on such a large sensor is downright tight, which is nice for making pretty looking shots..but really bad for just someone trying to capture a photo. Even on the S20 Ultra taking a photo of a person from 5 feet away results in the nose and eyes being in completely different focus. The fact of the matter is that in normal use, a medium format mobile sensor with a moderate pixel count is preferrable. (I.E. iPhone 11 Pro, Pixel 4) as for 95% of shots you want a wide DOF to put all of the content in focus and great per-pixel aperture to reduce exposure time and ISO so you can reduce camera shake and Noise. Even in the shots you want DOF (Portrait), faking it tends to lead to a more adjustable shot where you can correct after the fact instead of being actually stuck in a inch-wide focus gap where any movement of the camera or subject results in out of focus capture. Plus most photos are posted online in the 1-2MP size. Now cropping is a great extra 5% item, but for those who want really great photos they would have a lot to gain from a much larger sensor with a larger lens and lower MP count to get way less noise and better exposure times (I.e. The Sony A7R IV) Whereas dedicated full-frame equipment just trashes mobile results.
  - klodolph 7y ago
    Good points but “medium format” is a term of art in sensor sizes, referring to sensors larger than 24x36mm, such as the sensor in the Fuji GFX. We went through some “megapixel wars” in the past and it turns out, like you said, there are a lot of tradeoffs here and optimizing for high pixel count means you have to make unacceptable sacrifices elsewhere.
    - AgloeDreams 7y ago
      Oh yep, you are spot on. I wasn't referring to the sensor size standard but to a general medium of sensor sizes in mobile devices.
dmoy 7y ago
They also supply camera sensors to Nikon, one of the other big camera companies. Pretty sure they make Pentax's sensors as well. It's strongly suspected, but not outright confirmed last I checked, that they supply some canon compact cameras too.
- nakedrobot2 7y ago
  Canon makes their own APS-c and fullframe sensors, but they use sony sensors in their smaller cameras, including their "premium compact" g7x and similar cameras, which use the imx183 or imx383 sensors, similar to the sony rx100 series.
- nakedrobot2 7y ago
  It should be noted that Sony does supply sensors to Nikon, but in Nikon's flagship cameras, the sensors are designed/specced by Nikon, and Sony build them sensors to that spec, and those sensors are not used by anyone else. It is definitely not the case that Sony is just grabbing an already-designed sensor off the shelf for Nikon. And it is pretty much agreed that the Nikon d850 has the best image quality, period. Sony isn't using that sensor in their own cameras, they are not allowed to.
  - glennpratt 7y ago
    I'm a litte skeptical (Pentax with Sony sensor owner FWIW). Here's DPReview on D850 vs a7RIII > If anyone tells you that one camera is better than the other, for any particular activity based on image quality, you should laugh at them. In their face, if possible. https://m.dpreview.com/articles/4000816220/nikon-d850-vs-sony-a7r-iii-which-is-best https://m.dpreview.com/articles/4000816220/nikon-d850-vs-son...

True, Samsung has started the megapixel wars again with their 108 megapixel ISOCELL sensor[1] which are being used by couple of manufacturers already & it would be interesting to how Sony responds to it. [1]https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/image-sensor/mobile-image-sensor/S5KHMX/ https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/image-sensor/mobile-im...

AgloeDreams 7y ago
Yes...but. Is the ISOCELL any good? It very much seems to be mostly numbers but it really can't back up the claims in actual visual image quality. The noise and required light to get anything near good shots is very high, the DOF on such a large sensor is downright tight, which is nice for making pretty looking shots..but really bad for just someone trying to capture a photo. Even on the S20 Ultra taking a photo of a person from 5 feet away results in the nose and eyes being in completely different focus. The fact of the matter is that in normal use, a medium format mobile sensor with a moderate pixel count is preferrable. (I.E. iPhone 11 Pro, Pixel 4) as for 95% of shots you want a wide DOF to put all of the content in focus and great per-pixel aperture to reduce exposure time and ISO so you can reduce camera shake and Noise. Even in the shots you want DOF (Portrait), faking it tends to lead to a more adjustable shot where you can correct after the fact instead of being actually stuck in a inch-wide focus gap where any movement of the camera or subject results in out of focus capture. Plus most photos are posted online in the 1-2MP size. Now cropping is a great extra 5% item, but for those who want really great photos they would have a lot to gain from a much larger sensor with a larger lens and lower MP count to get way less noise and better exposure times (I.e. The Sony A7R IV) Whereas dedicated full-frame equipment just trashes mobile results.
- klodolph 7y ago
  Good points but “medium format” is a term of art in sensor sizes, referring to sensors larger than 24x36mm, such as the sensor in the Fuji GFX. We went through some “megapixel wars” in the past and it turns out, like you said, there are a lot of tradeoffs here and optimizing for high pixel count means you have to make unacceptable sacrifices elsewhere.
  - AgloeDreams 7y ago
    Oh yep, you are spot on. I wasn't referring to the sensor size standard but to a general medium of sensor sizes in mobile devices.

dmoy 7y ago

They also supply camera sensors to Nikon, one of the other big camera companies. Pretty sure they make Pentax's sensors as well. It's strongly suspected, but not outright confirmed last I checked, that they supply some canon compact cameras too.

nakedrobot2 7y ago
Canon makes their own APS-c and fullframe sensors, but they use sony sensors in their smaller cameras, including their "premium compact" g7x and similar cameras, which use the imx183 or imx383 sensors, similar to the sony rx100 series.
nakedrobot2 7y ago
It should be noted that Sony does supply sensors to Nikon, but in Nikon's flagship cameras, the sensors are designed/specced by Nikon, and Sony build them sensors to that spec, and those sensors are not used by anyone else. It is definitely not the case that Sony is just grabbing an already-designed sensor off the shelf for Nikon. And it is pretty much agreed that the Nikon d850 has the best image quality, period. Sony isn't using that sensor in their own cameras, they are not allowed to.
- glennpratt 7y ago
  I'm a litte skeptical (Pentax with Sony sensor owner FWIW). Here's DPReview on D850 vs a7RIII > If anyone tells you that one camera is better than the other, for any particular activity based on image quality, you should laugh at them. In their face, if possible. https://m.dpreview.com/articles/4000816220/nikon-d850-vs-sony-a7r-iii-which-is-best https://m.dpreview.com/articles/4000816220/nikon-d850-vs-son...