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Thanks, that makes sense. I did remember that sensors have "sub-pixels" that are grouped, and that you can access the sub-pixel to get "4 times" more pixels. B

Thanks, that makes sense. I did remember that sensors have "sub-pixels" that are grouped, and that you can access the sub-pixel to get "4 times" more pixels. But... what's the difference between the iPhone 14 and 13 then? The iPhone 13 presumably also has a Bayer sub-pixel arrangement on its sensor? What difference/innovation is happening with the iPhone 14 sensor? That the sub-pixel data can be processed, where in the case of the iPhone 13 it was inaccessible? Thanks!

zamadatix 4y ago
Pixel binning isn't about having 4 subpixels per pixel it's about multiplying the number of supixels per pixel by 4. On a typical Bayer arrangement with 4:1 binning that means 4 red, 4 blue, and 8 green subpixels per pixel (total of 16) instead of 4 pixels each with 1 red, 1 blue, and 2 green subpixels. I've never really seen a good explanation for why this is anything special vs just making the image smaller post capture in a non-naive way (like when they are already running it through the AI offload engine) considering all the hype it gets.
LegitShady 4y ago
> Thanks, that makes sense. I did remember that sensors have "sub-pixels" that are grouped, and that you can access the sub-pixel to get "4 times" more pixels. It's sort of backwards. You can get access to sub pixels to get '4 times' more data, but pixel binning is actually the other direction -> grouping pixels together. A lot of camera performance is related to photosite size - larger photosites for light to hit, better performance/more sensitivity. The problem is that if you have a camera sensor in a DSLR, you have room for big pixels, but when you have the small sensors in phones you don't have the room for large pixels and giant MP count for marketing. So pixel binning treats groups of pixels like one large pixel to try and improve sensor performance while still maintaining large megapixel counts for marketing. In terms of innovation we haven't heard anything. There are already smartphones with pixel binning on the market. This is apple just saying Us Too unless they've released information on a new unique binning technique I haven't seen.

zamadatix 4y ago

Pixel binning isn't about having 4 subpixels per pixel it's about multiplying the number of supixels per pixel by 4. On a typical Bayer arrangement with 4:1 binning that means 4 red, 4 blue, and 8 green subpixels per pixel (total of 16) instead of 4 pixels each with 1 red, 1 blue, and 2 green subpixels. I've never really seen a good explanation for why this is anything special vs just making the image smaller post capture in a non-naive way (like when they are already running it through the AI offload engine) considering all the hype it gets.

LegitShady 4y ago

> Thanks, that makes sense. I did remember that sensors have "sub-pixels" that are grouped, and that you can access the sub-pixel to get "4 times" more pixels. It's sort of backwards. You can get access to sub pixels to get '4 times' more data, but pixel binning is actually the other direction -> grouping pixels together. A lot of camera performance is related to photosite size - larger photosites for light to hit, better performance/more sensitivity. The problem is that if you have a camera sensor in a DSLR, you have room for big pixels, but when you have the small sensors in phones you don't have the room for large pixels and giant MP count for marketing. So pixel binning treats groups of pixels like one large pixel to try and improve sensor performance while still maintaining large megapixel counts for marketing. In terms of innovation we haven't heard anything. There are already smartphones with pixel binning on the market. This is apple just saying Us Too unless they've released information on a new unique binning technique I haven't seen.