Canon’s 120MP camera sensor: 60x sharper than 1080p
Prototype shown off at Japanese camera show features a stonking resolution of 13,280 x 9184
The CP+ photography expo in Yokohama wasn’t expected to throw up many digital camera-related surprises, but Canon has managed just that by showcasing a new image sensor with a startlingly high 120MP resolution.
The “Ultra high-resolution 120MP CMOS sensor”, as it’s being snappily referred to at present, offers a resolution of 13,280 x 9184 pixels, which is around 60 times the number of pixels found in 1080p full HD images. It can shoot at a maximum frame rate of 9.5fps though – so don’t expect “13k” video clips to start emerging any time soon.
A sensor as sensitive as your eyeballs
Canon says the sensor’s pixel count is equivalent to the number of receptors in the human eye, in a sense claiming that it can resolve to the same degree as the very peepers you’re using to read this news article.
It’s not huge in size, either. At 29.2mm x 20.2mm it’s somewhere in between the physical size of the APS-C sensors found in most DSLRs and the full-frame sensors used in higher-end DSLRs like the Canon EOS 5DS.
Canon foresees the sensor being used for video production, monitoring, aviation and space applications, but there’s always the chance it could wind up in a consumer digital camera in the future. Time to buy some bigger PC monitors, maybe?
[Source and image credit: DP Review]
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor 
