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Via diglloyd

I haven’t got a Nikon category so this is filed under Sigma. Nikon has apparently applied for a patent on a full-colour sensor – that is, a sensor that, like Sigma’s Foveon:

derives red, green and blue values at each “pixel”, as compared with a color filter array, which can record only red or green or blue at each location—hence the need for interpolation, which degrades image quality

As diglloyd comments, a patent doesn’t mean a camera:

It remains to be seen if Nikon can actually manufacture such a chip cost-effectively, and with a high pixel count. It might never see the light of day (patents are also competitive weapons), or Nikon might be poised to announce a breakthrough camera which could shake up both the high-end digital SLR and medium format digital back market. Presumably Canon has some competing technology, but the digital imaging patent wars could just be heating up—this kind of technology will be highly disruptive when it emerges.

But it is the continuing innovation that matters. As it seems likely that Bayer sensor cameras will eventually reach a point of diminishing returns of quality improvements (and maybe they already have), all new lines of enquiry are worth following – or at least they are if you are a manufacturer wondering what you are going to be selling in a few years time.

The US patent application is online. I notice a couple of interesting things. Firstly it is dated November 2006. Secondly it relies on a Japanese patent of December 2002. And thirdly, the illustrations are line drawings, yet dpreview (which is the source further up the line from diglloyd) published colour ones.

It has the air of Nikon wanting this information to surface now. Interesting.

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