Canon has unveiled a new full-frame, 35mm multi-purpose camera that can shoot full colour, full HD video in pitch black conditions. The ME20F-SH achieves this feat with an incredible ISO of 4,000,000. For photography novices, a camera’s ISO scale determines its sensitivity to light; the higher the ISO, the more sensitive to light the camera is, and the less light it needs to shoot a clear picture.
The drawback with higher ISOs is that it increases the signal-to-noise, so the more sensitive to light the camera is the more digital noise it will pick up. Canon has managed to compensate for this drawback by limiting the CMOS sensor to a below-industry standard 2.26 megapixels, and increasing pixel size to 19μm, 5.5-times more than a high-end DSLR.
Canon has been testing its ultra-low light sensors for a number of years, as evidenced by this impressive video (sadly in 360p):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHnUtmenGQ0#t=19
The hope is that the ME20F-SH can usurp Sony’s A7 camera, the current industry leader for low-light shooting with its 409,600 ISO and 12.2-megapixel (8.4µm) CMOS sensor. Check this impressive video by photographer and filmmaker Philip Bloom, shot with an A7, and imagine what the Canon ME20F-SH could be capable of:
Thank you DigitalRev for providing us with this information.
