Samsung Electronics, on June 10, announced the launch of the industry’s very first 0.64-micrometer pixel image sensor, the 50-MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1. The sensor will come equipped with an enhanced ISOCELL 2.0, Smart-ISO, and Double Super PDAF.
“Samsung’s advanced pixel technologies have once again pushed boundaries with the utmost precision to develop an image sensor with the industry’s smallest pixel size, yet with powerful performance. The new ISOCELL JN1 at 0.64μm will be able to equip tomorrow’s sleekest smartphones with ultra-high resolution mobile photographs,” said Duckhyun Chang, executive vice president of the sensor business at Samsung Electronics.
The ISOCELL 2.0 comes with increased light sensitivity, and for low lights, it will employ Tetrapixel or Samsung’s four-to-one pixel binning technology. Tetrapixel merges four adjacent 0.64μm-pixels into one big 1.28μm-pixel to quadruple light sensitivity for brighter 12.5Mp photographs. More importantly, the JN1 can be used for front-facing, ultrawide or telephoto lenses along with the standard wide camera options. The users can also capture videos at up to 4K. The smaller sensor can also make way for slimmer smartphones in the upcoming future.
Additionally, the ISOCELL JN1 also comes with Smart-ISO, which can change the conversion gain based on the environment’s illumination level. It will employ Low ISO mode in bright light settings so that the details can be retained in the photographs; it also uses High ISO in low light settings to reduce noise and deliver a great photo. Combined with the Smart-ISO, the JN1 would also offer inter-scene HDR in mixed-light settings for optimum exposure levels, merging two different ISOs to create the final image.
For faster auto-focus, the ISOCELL JN1 integrates improved Double Super PD. The Double Super PD uses pixels twice as much dense as when compared to the previous Super PD technology. This will ensure that the lens gets the right amount of auto-focus performance even when shot in an environment with about 60-percent fewer illumination levels. The image sensor supports up to 4K resolution video recording at 60 frames-per-second or full HD at 240 fps.
The Samsung ISOCELL JN1 is currently in mass production.
