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True, astrophotographers like monochrome camera because you can prioritize gathering brightness signal over color signal, so you get more detailed photo; you ca

True, astrophotographers like monochrome camera because you can prioritize gathering brightness signal over color signal, so you get more detailed photo; you can also use narrowband filter and image under full moon or in inner cities. However, astrophotographers also complain about the price premium of monochrome camera. Given the same sensor, the monochrome version is typically 20% - 30% more expensive than the color version, which is counterintuitive - you don't need to put the Bayer filter on! So if we can perfect the technique to debayer color sensor, the astrophotographer community would be elated.

ansible 5y ago
> the monochrome version is typically 20% - 30% more expensive than the color version, which is counterintuitive... The market for monochrome sensors is very tiny compared to the rest of the commercial products. Every phone now has 2 or more cameras on it, and there are billions of those. Any changes to the manufacturing steps means more setup and effort. Different test procedures, quality control, documentation, etc.. That is all overhead, to be absorbed by a relatively small production volume. I'm surprised it is only a 30% premium, I'd have expected higher actually.
- spiantino 5y ago
  I'm an avid astrophotographer, and the prices for cooled mono and cooled color cameras are the same. If you compare a dedicated, cooled astro camera to a consumer DSLR then yes, they are more expensive. But apples to apples they are exactly the same price. Actually, looking live the mono version is a bit cheaper: https://optcorp.com/products/zwo-asi6200mc-p https://optcorp.com/products/zwo-asi6200mc-p - color $3999 https://optcorp.com/products/zwo-asi6200mm-p https://optcorp.com/products/zwo-asi6200mm-p - mono $3799
deleted 5y ago
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2bitencryption 5y ago
> because you can prioritize gathering brightness signal over color signal, so you get more detailed photo I wonder how long until phone cameras are purely monochrome, and apply ML to add the "correct" color in post-processing. Actually, wasn't there some phone a few years ago with one high-res black-and-white sensor and one low-res color sensor, and it combined them through some tricky to produce a sharp color image?

ansible 5y ago

> the monochrome version is typically 20% - 30% more expensive than the color version, which is counterintuitive... The market for monochrome sensors is very tiny compared to the rest of the commercial products. Every phone now has 2 or more cameras on it, and there are billions of those. Any changes to the manufacturing steps means more setup and effort. Different test procedures, quality control, documentation, etc.. That is all overhead, to be absorbed by a relatively small production volume. I'm surprised it is only a 30% premium, I'd have expected higher actually.

spiantino 5y ago
I'm an avid astrophotographer, and the prices for cooled mono and cooled color cameras are the same. If you compare a dedicated, cooled astro camera to a consumer DSLR then yes, they are more expensive. But apples to apples they are exactly the same price. Actually, looking live the mono version is a bit cheaper: https://optcorp.com/products/zwo-asi6200mc-p https://optcorp.com/products/zwo-asi6200mc-p - color $3999 https://optcorp.com/products/zwo-asi6200mm-p https://optcorp.com/products/zwo-asi6200mm-p - mono $3799

deleted 5y ago

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2bitencryption 5y ago

> because you can prioritize gathering brightness signal over color signal, so you get more detailed photo I wonder how long until phone cameras are purely monochrome, and apply ML to add the "correct" color in post-processing. Actually, wasn't there some phone a few years ago with one high-res black-and-white sensor and one low-res color sensor, and it combined them through some tricky to produce a sharp color image?