Sony 3 layer patent in detail…
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It is my believe that the next image quality jump on the sensor technology front will come with the arrival of Sony’s 3 layer technology. The Sigma similar foveon sensors already have proven that at LOW ISO the sensor…rocks! But from ISO 400 towards the sensor has plenty of issues, like weird color reproducibility and incredible bad noise handling. And the Sony patent itself says that the 3 layer tech “has been difficult to reproduce correct colors when the color temperature of incident light changes, for example.” And the patent describes in every single detail how Sony wants to solve the issue. You may read it for yourself at Freepatentsonline (Click here).
The earliest we can hope to see a Sony camera with that sensor is 2014. And damn would I love it to see it within my next Full Frame NEX-FF…don’t you? 
Vivek
5 months ago |I would love to see it in the rumored NEX-7m and very soon!
Poki
5 months ago |+1
A NEX-7 successor with slightly better IQ, a slightly better EVF and, more importantly, a built in flash that can trigger Sony wireless flashes and a higher video bitrate.
WTH
5 months ago |NIKON FANBOIs REJOICE!!!!
YOU HAVE A NEW SENSOR TO LOOK FORWARD TOO!!!!
john
5 months ago |If Sony hold the keys to a paradigm shift in image quality meaning “game changer” I think it would be in their best interest to have exclusive right to that for at least one year and continue to sell CMOS to others.
john
5 months ago |Of course when the do sell this to others it will be claimed a Nikon design.
Sky_walker
5 months ago |I’d love to see it in a FF Alpha. An ultimate SLR. Something made with photography as a priority, to give sharpest pictures possible and push Zeiss 135 f/1.8 to the limits!
Ottawa Wedding Photography
5 months ago |I hope the only company that they share this technology with is Hasselblad!
Sky_walker
5 months ago |Hehehe, me too!
John Maverick
5 months ago |Yes I would love to see it. I’ve recently been looking at photos taken with the Sigma 46 megapixel SD1 paired with medium format lenses. The results show incredible detail and clarity and with excellent colour.
poki
5 months ago |Just to mention it – according to H. H. Nasse from Zeiss lenses produced for medium or full format sensors have in theory most of the time worse resolution per mm on the sensor plane on APS-C sensors than quality lenses designed for APS-C sensors. Oh, and phone camera lenses again have higher resolution than these.
John Maverick
5 months ago |All I can say in response, is that in practice the results from Zeiss’s best Contax 645 lens on the 46MP Sigma is really something to behold, even if it’s just the centre crop on APS-C. I’d post links but it’s not mine to share.
Poki
5 months ago |The Sigma Foveon Sensor only resolves 16 MP. Whether it’s capable of producing more details or not than that is not the question – a lens that resolves perfect 16 MP will get out as much of the sensor as a lens which is able to resolve 46 MP.
And yes, a MF lens may be great on a 16 MP APS-C sensor, but – in theory – shouldn’t be as good as the best lenses with APS-C image circle available at the same time.
simon
5 months ago |interesting because theoretically you could have a better light sensitivity and maybe better color. otherwise what is wrong with a 50mp bayer sensor?
John Maverick
5 months ago |Moire which requires an AA filter to correct. This then interferes with high-incidence lenses.
Joel Richards
5 months ago |Unless you have a very high resolution sensor–especially if the sensor bins the 48-50mpx image into 12-16mpx full color image.
ms
5 months ago |would using this vs a standard sensor have any bearing on RF lens performance? IE would this make a FF sensor play nice(r) with RF wides near the edges? If not then meh… I’d really like to see a sony NEX FF that can be ok with RF wides (at least 28mm). knowing sony, they’ll release the camera and then wait 5 years to get good lenses for it, so I guess it better play well with existing RF glass or it’ll be useless
Steve S.
5 months ago |It appears that the 3layer tech would also suffer, at the longer wavelengths (e.g. Rchannel) from the same deep-well-photosite / high-incident-angle-lensdesign problem…
Green.Lens
5 months ago |and even more so
John Maverick
5 months ago |Is there anything clearly stated aabout about how thin/thick the sensor can be made?
tOm
5 months ago |All I want from SONY is a camera that would produce b&w picture for a highest quality print size 50×60 cm with the picture quality in all respects equivalent to the best black and white silver prints – which (the camera) would be adaptable to lenses that can produce such quality of picture with contrast, sharpness and bokeh to the standard of Wollensaks, Petzvals, Pinkhams, Conleys, Bausches, Hermagis’, Grundlachs, Kodaks, Cookes, Rodenstocks, Schneiders, Alpas, Leicas, Voigtlaenders etc etc as presented by Mr. Jim Galli. All that is to be processed quickly on an ordinary home computer and printed economically on a LF printer also at home. Until that’s available, I am indifferent to all these technical fuss “sensations” here. Thank you.
Don Cox
5 months ago |Judging from the Sigma cameras, a multilayer sensor is particularly good at black and white, as there is no blurring from the Bayer conversion.
It makes more sense than a purely B&W sensor such as Leica uses, as the sales of a specialist sensor would be so low that the price would be Leica-level.
eths
5 months ago |This could be awesome…
Spuds
5 months ago |What would be the point? Honestly for most people the current crop of cameras work well enough. The 3 layer designs might give even better detail but why would anyone really care, unless you are planning on making blow ups to fill a wall.
Don’t get me wrong, I love it when technology moves ahead, but this would seem like a lot of money and research put onto a problem that doesn’t actually exist.
Poki
5 months ago |If it’s better, it’s worth it. Sony is going to make tons of dollars by selling these sensors to Nikon. Oh, and I already blow my pics up to fill my walls (well, almost), and they look incredible – but I’d lie if I say I don’t want them to be even better.
Rob
5 months ago |I love to make large prints – 48 inches and beyond. If Sony can deliver a sensor that will produce highly detailed, noiseless (to iso 800 is fine for me – but Sony needs to make some high iso event cameras separately and not expect one camera body to do everything) saturated images with a wide dynamic range, then I’ll buy it! I don’t worry about leading edge video for this unit – hopefully a competant ability is all that’s needed.
ariliquin
5 months ago |A sensor like this will make everything else look like obsolete yesteryear tech. Once a comparative is possible it will be obvious just how limited the current bayer based IQ is.
Imagine a genuine 33mp full frame (or 35mmx35mm) sensor with 3 layer true colour sensing (That’s 99mp in Sigma speak), no interop, no bayer, reasonable ISO and battery performance.
patiently waiting
JEFF
5 months ago |even if that is possible. will there be a lens that can resolve that resolution
Even the Zeiss 24mm probably not fully resolve NEX 7 24 MP Bayer sensor
Don Cox
5 months ago |The sensor should have a higher resolution than the best lens. It should be able to fully resolve the smallest details that any lens can give.
In other words, the lens should always be the limiting factor, not the sensor.
Dirk
5 months ago |To be honest, I hope that Sony will not put it into this year’s camera releases.
Don’t get me wrong – if I wouldn’t care new technologies or features I would be a C/N Fanboy.
But! For a pro camera that will be hierachy wise ahead of a99 I expect it not having any teething troubles. And Sony did it in the past and due to their financial situation they will run the pilot series with the early adopters.
And as usually being one I would like th get this time (agree on only this one time with the FF NEX)a perfect designed camera.
Sky_walker
5 months ago |Well, solution is simple: Release it side-by-side with A99 mkII.
davidlam
5 months ago |FF 3x16MP (7.2 micron) would be ideal with f/16 free from diffraction limit.
Wish it had a clean ISO1600 and free from magenta/purple fringing!
Sony, please put it in an A900 body, improve the AF, change to the hotshoe, add WiFi tethering and 2.4G wireless flash control…I know I’m dreaming…
albhui
5 months ago |With the success of RX100, I hope Sony understand they should keep the best sensors to themselves only (at least for 1 year).
RX100 continues to be an attractive buy today, as there are no other compacts with the same sensor at the moment. Even Nikon’s 1 series is using Aptina sensors and doesn’t perform quite as well as the sony sensor (according to DXO anyway).
If Sony didn’t provide sensors to the Nikon, allowing them to make the great D600 and D800 then I am sure the sales of A99 would have been better……
Samony
5 months ago |What will happen to Foveon then? I can’t wait for Sony to finally up one on this multi-layer technology. Sigma hasn’t gone very far with it due to lack of competition.
Don Cox
5 months ago |I think Sigma are limited mainly by shortage of money for development. It is a much smaller company than Sony.
Poki
5 months ago |Well – it’s their own fault. They wanted to charge 9000 for a APS-C DSLR after all …
Hartsark
5 months ago |Thats right.
Proprietary=>no Competition=> Laziness =>no Development.