sonyalpharumors

One of my very trusted sources told me that the next Sony compact cameras will have a new “Pixel Binning” feature. For those of you not knowing what this is here is the wikipedia description: “binning is the procedure of combining a cluster of pixels into a single pixel. As such, in 2×2 binning, an array of 4 pixels becomes a single larger pixel,^[1] reducing the overall number of pixels. This aggregation reduces the impact of read noise on the processed image at the cost of a lower resolution.“.

This is an interesting news because it is also a feature many of you requested for the future NEX and SLT cameras. I don’t know yet if that feature will be exclusive for compact camera or if it will be implemented in future system cameras too. I would certainly welcome that feature on my future A99

Because you want high resolution in good light, and big sensor surface per pixel in low light.

Most compact camera users only know how to press the shutter button and upload to Facebook. In fact I’d say the same for most dSLR users too…

But yes, I agree. For the experienced user it would make more sense to capture the image at full resolution and then PP it. Indeed in PP it may be found that “binning” wasn’t necessary and a few NR tweaks are all that’s required.

No Canon DSLR can do Pixel Binning!!!!

1) You don’t need in-camera pixel binning, do it yourself in PP.

2) I don’t see why A77 users should be concerned about compacts.

3) You’d have to ask 5DMkII users, from what I read it can introduce Dynamic Range issues.

other questions:

1) Doubt it. The crop is there for electronic image stabilisation. I don’t think they’ll provide a way of switching it off, but it would be nice.

2) Don’t hold your breath for tethering. It may never happen. I have to also use a Canon (long story) because the A77 doesn’t have it!

3) According to Sony, the 1600 ISO video limit is to prevent the sensor from overheating due to more power being drawn by the sensor at higher ISO. So I doubt it will be changed.

Versatility, in good light you dont bin and get the benefit of all thouse pixels, in bad light you lose the pixel count and gain the low noise. All this occurs on the sensor before the digitization phase. Its been used in Astro photography for a long time. Essentially you sacrifice detail for a reduced noise image.

You cant achieve the same thing in post as the Summing Well on the sensor has the benefit of a single readout channel. If you do it in post from the full pixel count the 4 pixels have 4 readout channels hence 4x the readout noise (which would add in quadrature so ends up being about twice the noise) so the results are still more noise and worse colour accuracy. True binning is better if you can stand the resolution drop.

@Carl

Agreed, as I said in my post above, is MUST be done before the ADCs and in EXMOR and EXMOR-R even its more important as Sony use on chip column ADCs.

Versatility..