Sony Semiconductor Solutions division recently introduced a 247-megapixel medium-format image sensor that’s huge, but where will it go?
The sensor measures out to roughly the same dimensions as the 150 and 100MP sensors found in the Phase One IQ4 camera system and Hasselblad’s H6D camera respectively.
This of course means that its individual pixels are smaller than those of these other cameras, but we’re still talking about a huge medium-format sensor with enormous resolution.
The question however is where it will pop up in a retail camera of some kind.
Sony Alpha Rumors first spotted the new sensor after Sony’s Semiconductor division added the model along with a variant to its CMOS sensor catalog.
These two variants, called the IMX811-AAMR and IMX811-AAQR, are backlit CMOS editions that both deliver 247MP and are classified as Type 4.1 image sensors.
One version reproduces images in color while the other does so in black and white, as the chart screenshot below shows:
The major catch with both sensors is that they’re categorized as being for “industrial” uses.
For some photographers, particularly those who love Sony camera technology and want it in medium-format cameras, this might seem disappointing.
However, it’s worth noting that these sorts of technologies have a way of finding their way into the retail/commercial world, sometimes quite rapidly.
In the case of the new sensor variants named above, this isn’t at all the case yet, but Sony Semiconductor already has so-called industrial sensors going into consumer cameras.
One example of this is the SSS division’s IMX461 sensor, which resides in Fujifilm’s medium-format GFX 100 and Hasselblad’s X series pro-consumer cameras.
It’s not a stretch to imagine the new 247MP models also being given the same treatment.
The key specs of the new IMX811 sensor variants are also indeed incredible. This rolling shutter sensor delivers full 16-bit digital output and even at that level can record its enormous still shots at a rate of 5.3 fps.
This image processing speed goes up to 10.5 and 12.4 fps when the sensor’s A/D converter is lowered down to 14-bit or 12-bit modes respectively.
The overall result of all these megapixels is an image that’s 19,200 pixels wide and 12,800 pixels high. For comparison, Sony’s 60MP CMOS sensor for the brand’s powerful a7R V camera “only” outputs images with maximum dimensions of 9,504 x 6,336 pixels.
The a7R V sensor creates its shots at a 3:2 ratio while the 150MP Sony model in the Phase One IQ4 cameras does so at a ratio of 4:3. We don’t yet know what ratio the IMX811 uses though.
Overall, the specs and features of the newly introduced sensor are extremely impressive and it would be wonderful to see these models appear in consumer medium-format cameras.
On the other hand, Sony and other major camera makers have previously introduced incredible new camera and sensor technologies only to strictly reserve them for industrial, surveillance and other non-consumer uses.
We’ll keep an eye out for the new sensor cropping up in a future medium-format camera release.
