Digic 5 is announced

[Raid]

I was under the impression that a CCD was inherently less noisy than a CMOS sensor, in an apples for apples comparison. As I understand it, the reason to use CMOS was cost and power consumption. The reason why Nikon has better ISO noise performance is their use of a CCD but they also have much shorter battery life.


Is the 75% noise reduction a function of the noise generated by the chip (which would be very good) or is it noise reduction algorithms (which is not so good since this reduces image quality).


Happy to be corrected.

[Daniel Browning]

I was under the impression that a CCD was inherently less noisy than a CMOS sensor, in an apples for apples comparison.

It depends on what you mean by an apples-to-apples comparison. If you mean a completely biased, nonsensical comparison rigged by CCD manufacturers to make their product seem superior, then yes, CCD is less noisy. But if you mean any real life comparison made within the last decade, then no, CCD is not inherently less noisy. Once microlenses became prevalent, the playing field evened out.

As I understand it, the reason to use CMOS was cost and power consumption.

It's not cost. The theory behind CMOS being cheaper is that they require less semiconductor customizations than CCD for manufacturing and can ride the coattails of the much larger computer manufacturing lines. But in reality, the only company to ever actual attempt it failed terribly. It turns out that CMOS image sensors require just as much customization as CCD.


The difference in power consumption is so incredibly minute that it can only matter to the ultra-tiny mobile phones with teeny, tiny LCD screens. In anything bigger, like a smartphone or a digicam, the LCD and other components take up so much more battery power that the difference is entirely inconsequential.

The reason why Nikon has better ISO noise performance is their use of a CCD

First of all, the last time Nikon came out with a CCD-based DSLR was 7 YEARS ago, in 2004. Everything since has been CMOS. Furthermore, Canon's CMOS sensors of the time wiped the floor with Nikon's CCD. The noise was so much lower in Canon's CMOS that it wasn't even funny.


Of course, now the tables have turned, and Nikon's CMOS sensors (mostly made by Sony) are noticeably better than Canon's CMOS sensors.

Is the 75% noise reduction a function of the noise generated by the chip (which would be very good) or is it noise reduction algorithms (which is not so good since this reduces image quality).

It's certainly not the chip. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's noise reduction algorithms, either. It could just be a better de-Bayer algorithm, that provides the same detail with less noise.

[andnowimbroke]

I think the first EOS was the only CCD Canon made. After that, it was all CMOS. It

[Raid]

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]Thanks Daniel<o></o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<o><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"]</o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]The first and last time I designed something with a CCD was in the early 80&rsquo;s. It was 4096 x 1 pixels (don&rsquo;t laugh, it was very expensive when you included the Peltier cooler) so things have really moved forward. <o></o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<o><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"]</o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]I remembered reading a review of the Nikon 3D and I was sure it said CCD, but I&rsquo;m clearly wrong, I just double checked.<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"]&hellip;. senility here we come.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"]<o></o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<o><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"]</o>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"]<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri;"]Another thing I was wondering about was the in camera GPS, my guess it would be a phone style (low power, very basic and not very accurate).<o></o>

[Daniel Browning]

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;"]<span style="font-size:small;"]<span style="font-family:Calibri;"]The first and last time I designed something with a CCD was in the early 80&rsquo;s. It was 4096 x 1 pixels (don&rsquo;t laugh, it was very expensive when you included the Peltier cooler) so things have really moved forward.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;"]<span style="font-size:small;"]<span style="font-family:Calibri;"]

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;"]<span style="font-size:small;"]<span style="font-family:Calibri;"]Neat!
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;"]<span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small;"]<span>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;"]<span style="font-size:small;"]<span style="font-family:Calibri;"]I remembered reading a review of the Nikon 3D and I was sure it said CCD, but I&rsquo;m clearly wrong, I just double checked.<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif';font-size:11pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;"]&hellip;. senility here we come.
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"]<span>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]You think you have it bad? I'm so senile, I was sitting around the other day, just thinking about life as I watched the pretty light change from red, to green, to yellow, and back to red again. I just wondered to myself: is life really nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? [] (Apologies to Jack Handey.)
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span><span>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;"]<span style="font-size:small;"]<span style="font-family:Calibri;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif';font-size:11pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:'Times New Roman';mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;"]
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;"]<span style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:small;"]
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;"]<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US;"]<span style="font-size:small;"]<span style="font-family:Calibri;"]Another thing I was wondering about was the in camera GPS, my guess it would be a phone style (low power, very basic and not very accurate).

Yeah, I wonder.

[iND]

So I guess the recommendation is for the S100 over the S95 due to the updated digic 5 processor
Due to battery life reviews, can the gps be turned off to increase battery life.

Any cons of the S100 vs the S95 which is a nice bargain right now