Cutting-Edge CMOS Sensors

Canon has developed CMOS sensor technology from the ground up for its digital SLR cameras.
Bringing greater convenience and safety to the world by making visible that which could not be seen before.

CMOS Sensor Captures Fast-Moving Subjects without Distortion

An issue facing conventional CMOS sensors, which sequentially expose pixels one row at a time, is that fast-moving subjects can become distorted in the image produced.

CMOS Sensor Featuring a Global Shutter

To that end, Canon has implemented a newly developed scanning method that exposes all of the sensor's pixels at the same time. This makes possible the capture of distortion-free images even when shooting fast-moving subjects, which is required for such industrial applications as product inspection. Although there were initial concerns about the power consumption necessary to achieve a high frame rate of 120 frames per second with a full-frame readout, a low power consumption was achieved using proprietary Canon circuit technology. What's more, as less heat is generated by the sensor, the camera body doesn't need to be made larger to accommodate a heat sink, allowing for more compact camera designs.The sensor has strong potential for use in cameras that inspect parts on belt conveyors at factories and for aerial cameras mounted on drones.

A CMOS Sensor Capable of Clear Color-Image Capture by the Light of a Crescent Moon

From surveillance to observing natural phenomena, there is a growing need to capture video in the dark.

Ultra-high-Sensitivity 35mm Full-frame CMOS sensor

By increasing size of the sensor's pixels, allowing them to capture more light, Canon has developed an ultra-high-sensitivity sensor capable of Full HD video capture in color with reduced noise, even in low-light environments where subjects would be difficult to discern with the naked eye.
This CMOS sensor features pixels measuring 19 μm (μm=micron, one millionth of a meter) square, which is more than 7.5-times the surface area of the pixels on the CMOS sensors incorporated into Canon's top-of-the-line EOS-1D X Mark II and other DSLR cameras.

The sensor makes possible video capture with as little as 0.001 lux of illumination, roughly the equivalent of starlight, and was even used to successfully capture footage of a rare phenomenon known as a moonbow, a rainbow produced by moonlight.
The sensor is expected to be used for such applications as astronomical observation, monitoring natural disasters, crime prevention and the observation of microorganisms in low light, as well as for wildlife photography and video production.

Comparison of images captured under identical conditions

CMOS Sensor Can Identify Lettering on Aircraft Fuselage 18 km Away

Canon was quick to launch R&D efforts on CMOS sensors as far back as the 1990s. In 2010, the company produced a CMOS sensor with 120 megapixels, achieving a level of resolution equivalent to that of the human eye, a feat that garnered considerable attention.

Ultra-High-Resolution 250 Megapixel CMOS Sensor

In 2015, Canon successfully developed an APS-H-size CMOS sensor with approximately 250 megapixels (19580 x12600 pixels), the world's highest pixel count for its size^*. This ultra-high-pixel-count CMOS sensor achieves a level of resolution that is approximately 125 times that of Full HD (1920x 1080 pixels) video and approximately 30 times that of 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) video.

• *As of December 31, 2017. Based on a Canon survey

Despite the compact pixel dimensions, sensitivity was maintained by creating a structure that maximizes the amount of light captured. Though increases in pixel count results in increased signal volume, which can cause signal delays and timing discrepancies, an ultra-high-speed signal readout of 1.25 billion pixels per second was achieved through circuit miniaturization and enhanced signal-processing technology. Accordingly, the sensor is capable of capturing ultra-highpixel-count video at a speed of five frames per second.