American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 71

Single-Imager Systems The last decade has seen an everincreasing rise in the development and implementation of single-imager digital-camera systems. This is due not only to increasing fabrication capabilities, but also to improved image-processing algorithms and color-filtering techniques. “The single-imager system inherently enjoys the same optical simplicity as a 35mm film camera,” says Thorpe. “Absent an optical relay system, it presents the same single focal plane as a film camera, so it can use standard film lenses. Additionally, single-imager cameras employ a single, proprietary, large-format, solid-state image-sensor system — eitherCCD or CMOS — whose function is to implement an opto-electronic transformation of the focused object-image, [similar to] the opto-chemical transformation that takes place in the film camera.” However, unlike film emulsions, current semiconductor-fabrication techniques cannot adequately allow a single point on a sensor to be sensitive to (and able to capture a value for) each of the three primary colors. (However, Foveon manufactures an imager incorporating this idea for use in singlesensor still-photography cameras.) So in order to derive RGB color information, CCD and CMOS single-imager systems require a color-filter array — applied directly to the sensor’s photosites — to designate a prescribed portion of the photosites as green-sensitive, blue-sensitive and red-sensitive. Color-Filter Arrays CFAs perform the same function as the tri-imager’s prism assembly, but instead of separating light to individual sensors, they divide incident light to specific photosites. Thorpe elaborates, “The separation of the incident light into the requisite RGB color representations is accomplished with a mosaic of filters that individually applies a primary color to encompass each [photosite] within the imager’s array in a predetermined pattern. Precision interpolation

A sample of some of the single-imager camera systems on the market today and their respective photosite structures. Below: A Bayer color-filter-array structure.

— real time or non-real time, depending on the manufacturer — then takes place in the digital-video-processing system to reconstruct the separate RGB components.” John Galt, senior vice president of Panavision’s Advanced Digital Imaging Group, notes, “The filters used in a CFA are basically pigments lithographically printed onto a sensor during fabrication. They are typically absorption-type filters that have much less efficiency than a three-CCD’s interference filters, which have about 90-percent efficiency. So when you’re building a camera with a CFA, the color and saturation level of the filters greatly affect the sensitivity of the camera.” “Careful selection of the color filters is important,” cautions Glenn Kennel, president and CEO of Arri, “because that defines the response of the sensor to color and mixed illuminants, as well as the overall color gamut of the sensor. That applies whether you’re talking CCD or CMOS. However, the CMOS sensor’s now-superior sensitivity gives us more flexibility in working with the color filters; we can make the responses broader and at the same time
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tailor them to creating clean color rendition and gamut.” Several types of CFAs are used today. The most prevalent is the Bayer CFA, named for its inventor, Bryce E. Bayer of the Eastman Kodak Co. In 1975, Bayer filed for a patent for his CFA pattern. He described a scenario in which green (or “luminance-sensitive”) elements are arranged in a checkerboard grid with their corresponding red and blue (“chrominance-sensitive”) elements in a ratio of 2:1. (See illustration above.) The raw sampling output of a Bayer-filtered sensor is often referred to as a Bayer-pattern image. To obtain a full-color image out of this anisotropic array of color information, various demosaicing algorithms must be used to
June 2011 71


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American Cinematographer - June 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - June 2011

American Cinematographer - June 2011
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: TV on the Radio’s “Will Do”
Production Slate: The Mill & The Cross • Last Man Standing
Scalawags in Stereo
Hammer of the Gods
Tortured Souls
Decoding Digital Imagers: Part 2
Post Focus: Highlights from NAB
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
ASC Membership Roster
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: Dean Semler
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - American Cinematographer - June 2011
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 1
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 2
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Contents
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 4
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 5
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 6
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 7
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 9
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 11
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Short Takes: TV on the Radio’s “Will Do”
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 13
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 14
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 15
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Production Slate: The Mill & The Cross • Last Man Standing
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 17
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 18
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 19
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 20
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 21
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 22
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 23
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 24
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 25
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Scalawags in Stereo
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 27
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 28
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 29
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 30
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 31
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 32
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 33
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 34
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 35
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 36
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 37
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 38
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 39
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Hammer of the Gods
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 41
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 42
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 43
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 44
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 45
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 46
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 47
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 48
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 49
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 50
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 51
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 52
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 53
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 54
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 55
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Tortured Souls
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 57
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 58
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 59
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 60
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 61
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 62
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 63
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 64
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 65
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 66
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 67
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Decoding Digital Imagers: Part 2
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 69
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 70
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 71
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 72
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 73
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 74
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 75
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 76
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 77
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 78
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 79
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Post Focus: Highlights from NAB
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 81
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 82
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 83
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 84
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 85
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 86
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 87
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 89
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 90
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 91
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 92
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 93
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 94
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 95
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 96
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 97
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 98
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 99
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Classified Ads
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 103
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - ASC Membership Roster
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 105
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - 107
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - ASC Close-Up: Dean Semler
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - June 2011 - Cover4
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