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Monday, February 22, 2016

Samsung Galaxy S7 Camera Features Dual Pixel AF, Larger Pixels

Samsung has increased the pixel pitch from 1.12um to 1.4um in its latest flagship smartphones Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, reducing the resolution from 16MP in the previous generation to 12MP now. The new sensor feature Dual Pixel AF (all pixel PDAF):


"The advantage of the Dual Pixel image sensor in the Galaxy S7 is most evident when taking pictures in a low-light environment. The newest smartphone model is equipped with 1.4um pixels (a 56 percent increase in size compared to the Galaxy S6) and a large F1.7 aperture (which allows for 25 percent more brightness). Combined, these features enable for 95 percent more light compared to its predecessor, which subsequently results in a much brighter and sharper image. Furthermore, the new model employs autofocusing at considerably faster speeds, allowing for faster shooting."

The company's Youtube videos emphasize the PDAF speed and low light capabilities of the new camera:



15 comments:

  1. The f1.7 lens, up from the f1.9 lens, is a 33% improvement in light capture.

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    1. Somewhere along the way there will be some loss of collection efficiency due to the fill factor of split PD pixel. I wonder of some of it is not rolled into the optical factor.

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    2. it is 25% more (1.9/1.7)^2=1.25

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    3. magskyic, actually Aperture is not in 1-10 or multiples of one. Rather it is a constant, where each number, is a multiple of the square root of 2 (1.414 approx.).
      f-stops, are therefore .7, 1.0, 1.4, 2.0, 2.8 etc.
      so between 1.4 and 2.0, there is an Entire Stop of Light. Which means that 1.9 to 1.7 would be .2 of .6, which is 1/3rd or 33%.
      Please correct me if I am wrong.


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    4. is this just stolen as from apple or did they pay a license fee to canon?

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    5. I think 33% is wrong, cannot understand why 1.9 to 1.7 would be 0.2 of 0.6

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    6. The 0.2 of 0.6 numbers are a linear approximation of a part of an exponential curve. That is why it misses, but not by very much. The correct math for this is as stated above (1.9/1.7)^2=1.25.

      Note the aperture numbers are usually rounded down. We don't know the exact apertures, and it would not make much sense anyway since its varying slightly when focusing. transmission is varying too, making the aperture number just an approximation of light flux at the sensor plane at a given scene lighting.

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  2. huh. i wonder how this differs from Canon's dual pixel sensors.

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  3. huh. i wonder how this differs from Canon's dual pixel sensors.

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  4. How it compared with image sensor of normal 1.4um pixels? The resolution is also limited by the readout speed as now is actually 24Mpixels.

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  5. it looks to me that in the YouTube video that the s7's image is clearly more than 1 stop brighter that s6, but from the pixel size and aperture size it seems only 1 stop increase in EV.

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  6. the burst shot fps is much more high than 10fps,seems close to 20fps

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  7. This all looks very exciting but is the S7 any better handling high dynamic range? In the tests shown, while the image certainly is brighter, in the S7 shots the bright areas were blown out. Could just be the video, but wonder if any of you konw for certain. Thanks

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  8. And, yes, please notify me when an answer is given. Thanks again

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