Wednesday, June 24, 2009

How the Image Sensor Affects the Camera

By Joe Morphe

An outdoor security camera, like all cameras, uses an image sensor made up of many pixels which registers the amount of light and converts it to the corresponding number of electrons. The brighter the light, the more electrons are generated. There are two main technologies used for the camera's image sensor.

The CCD, or charge-coupled device, and the CMOS, or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor are often viewed as rival technologies. However, each actually has its own strengths and weaknesses so that one is more appropriate than the other depending on the application.

The CCD image sensors were developed in cameras specifically for the purpose that they serve today. Meanwhile, CMOS sensors were originally adaptations of standard technology already in use for other applications such as the memory chip of computers. However, as technology advances CMOS sensors becoming more suited for cameras and the image quality is improving at a very impressive rate.

The main benefit of a CCD sensor over a CMOS sensor is the higher light sensitivity. Being more sensitive to light means it can produce a better image in conditions where lighting is low.

The two downsides to the CCD sensors are really the true advantages to CMOS sensors. The CCDs make the cameras more expensive since they are harder to put into a camera and an equivalent sensor uses almost one hundred times more power than a CMOS sensor.

In contrast, the CMOS sensors are quickly over taking the areas that CCD sensors once ruled in terms of image quality. CMOS based cameras always had the edge when it came to cost. It is much easier to build a camera around a CMOS sensor.

The CMOS sensor also allows for greater integration possibilities than the CCD sensor which in comparison is designed to be more stringent in terms of function and integration. CMOS sensors have faster readouts which make a big difference in megapixel technology and you will find megapixel cameras with CMOS sensors much more than with CCD sensors simply because of the costs.

Megapixel sensors are sensors that contain pixels that number in the millions. Since megapixel sensors are commonly made to be the same size as traditional VGA sensors, each pixel is smaller. This allows the camera to capture more detail and higher resolution but also becomes less light sensitive since pixels are smaller in size making it a suboptimal choice for low light conditions.

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