X3 Digital Film

In two weeks, at PMA show, Sigma is to release the SD-14, the third version of a Foveon X3-based digital camera. Foveon has been around for a number of years, failing to capture meaningful market, despite the superior sensor technology they offered. Let us have a look at it from several angles.

X3 is a digital camera sensor technology. Its layered concept resembles the way old photo film works and is very much in line with what most people expect from a camera sensor. X3 captures all colors in every pixel. Isn't it obvious, you'd ask? Well, what most consumers do not realize is 99% of digital cameras are black-and-white. Yes, that is true, with the exception of Foveon/X3 based (only Sigma cameras...). What you probably do not realize is your state of the art 10-megapixel Canon/Nikon/Sony/You-name-it is a black and white camera. At least its sensor is black and white. They capture colors using color filters. In front of every pixel is a filter - red, green or blue. So some of your 10 million pixels capture the intensity of red light, some capture green and some blue. What is worse, the pixels sit side by side. That means if you have a small green dot that happens to be just in front of a blue or red pixel, it won't be visible at all when the picture is taken. If you have a white dot small enough to be just in front of a blue pixel, it will be blue, not white on the picture. You feel cheated? That is how stuff works... Foveon X3 is the only design being able to deliver the truth. X3 pixels also capture "just" red or green or blue colors, but instead of sitting side by side, they sit one on top of another. Thus a "combined" pixel captures all colors. Small green dot will be visible and green, small white will be white, not blue. True colors. Or direct image, as they call it.

SD-14 is a third X3-based release from Sigma. The first one was SD-9, then came the SD-10 and now we have SD-14. It is not an ideal camera, for today's standards. But it has far more goodies than its predecessors. Personally I was considering the SD-10 several times, but all the time when I was realizing there was no built-in flash, I decided to wait for the new model. SD-14 does have a flash. And the latest generation 14-megapixel X3 sensor. And loads of other features. I think, being version 3, it may be close enough to the competition (feature-wise) to capture a good portion of the market. Not to mention its fundamentally superior technology - X3. With all it is, it just confirms "the law of version 3". It says the third version of anything is what really delivers. But will it be enough for Foveon to grow hundredfold? Probably not yet.

Foveon X3 pixel - stacking technology has one extremely important parameter. Its pixels are bigger. Being stacked instead of lying side by side, their area, relative to the sensor side, is big, much bigger than what we have with traditional sensors. What does that mean? Of course being bigger they capture more light, so potentially X3-based sensors are more sensitive, with less noise. But there is one even more important factor - lens resolution. What is the biggest image sensor market today? Cellphones of course. Are we happy with the cellphone image quality? No! Why? Not because we do not have 3-or-more megapixel camera phones. But because the resolution of lenses being used in camera phones is below what should be accepted. Driving the pixel count up and keeping the size, we are shrinking the pixels, and keeping the lens small and light we lose resolution. That is why the quality is still not there. Foveon has an ultimate advantage here. Bigger pixels. The lens resolution required by X3 sensors is far less than what is needed for traditional sensors. Foveon is readying specialized camera phone sensor. This is their holy grail, being inside Nokias and LGs and Samsungs and iPhones. So get ready. This company has an extreme upside potential , empowering mobile phones (Teleputers?) to finally replace yet another device - a digital camera.