Sony FCB camera block
SONY FCB-EV9500M is a high-performance, all-in-one camera module that uses a 1/1.8 “STARVIS CMOS sensor with an effective pixel of approximately 4.17 million pixels, supports full HD 1080P/60 MIPI signal output, and features a 30x enhanced optical zoom lens. It can be widely used in a variety of scenarios, including but not limited to security monitoring, intelligent transportation, drones, medical equipment, industrial inspection and video conferencing.
SONY FCB-EV9500M has an effective sensor of about 4.17 million pixels due to the use of a large sensor. However, many users are puzzled, why its output pixel is only 2 million? Not the same 4 million as the FCB-EW9500H?
Next, Danny Wong, senior engineer of Xuanzhan Technology, will give you popular science.
1. Different concepts
First of all, it needs to be clear that the sensor effective pixel of the camera (in this case, FCB-EV9500M is about 4.17 million pixels) and the output pixel are two different concepts.
The Effective Pixels of a sensor are the number of pixels actually used for imaging on an image sensor. These pixels are the basic units on the sensor that capture light and convert it into an electrical signal, which in turn forms an image. The number of effective pixels directly determines the highest resolution and detail performance of the image.
It is usually related to the size of the sensor and the pixel density (that is, the number of pixels per unit area). Larger sensor sizes can usually accommodate more pixels, which improves the resolution and quality of the image while keeping the pixel size reasonable.
Output Pixels are the number of pixels used in the output of an image or video signal. In the FCB-EV9500M integrated camera, the output pixels determine the resolution and quality of the final image or video displayed.
The number of output pixels can be less than or equal to the number of effective pixels of the sensor. In this case,
The number of output pixels of the SONY FCB-EW9500H is equal to the number of effective pixels of the sensor, which is about 4 million.
The number of output pixels of the SONY FCB-EV9500M, about 2 million, is smaller than the number of effective pixels of the sensor, about 4.17 million.
In image acquisition devices such as FCB-EV9500M integrated cameras, the effective pixel of the sensor is the highest resolution that can be obtained when capturing images, and the output pixel may be adjusted according to needs to adapt to different application scenarios and display devices.
2. output pin decision
Why is the output pixel of the SONY FCB-EW9500H the same as the effective pixel of its sensor, up to 4 million, while the output pixel of the FCB-EV9500M is only 2 million?
Senior Engineer Danny Wong adds that this is directly related to its output pin definition:
The output pin of the SONY FCB-EW9500H is defined as 4K HDMI, which means that the FCB-EW9500H supports the output of 4K resolution video signals through the HDMI interface. The output pixel of 4K resolution can reach 8 million, so the FCB-EW9500H reaches about 4 million output pixels, which is in line with the specification.
However, at this time, many users have a new question: Since FCB-EW9500H uses the output pin definition of 4K HDMI, why is its output pixel only about 4 million, and can not reach 8 million?
This is because the effective number of pixels of the FCB-EW9500H sensor is about 4.17 million, which means that the number of image pixels that the sensor itself can capture, the number of camera output pixels can only be less than or equal to the number of effective pixels of the sensor, so its output pixels can not exceed 4.17 million, which is also said in the previous concept definition.
The output pin of SONY FCB-EV9500M is defined as MIPI, which means that FCB-EV9500M supports the camera video to be converted into a network video model through the MIPI interface, so its output pixels can only reach about 2 million, which is also in line with the specification of the radio and television standard: 1080P (resolution: 1920×1080).
Because there are only 1080P and 2160P in radio and television standards, FCB-EV9500M and FCB-EV9500L are output in 1080P format standard, while FCB-EW9500H is output in 2160P format standard, because FCB-EW9500H has less than 8 million pixels. Therefore, it can only solve the output problem of 2160P by output 400 images in the middle and output black edges around.
3. Image compression
In this example, the output pixels of the SONY FCB-EV9500M (about 2 million) are smaller than the effective pixels of the sensor (about 4.17 million), so what about the excess pixels captured by the sensor? The camera will compress the image from the original image (about 4.17 million) to the target pixel image (about 2 million) through the image compression technology to meet the specific output requirements.
The same principle applies to SONY FCB-EV9500L and other integrated camera modules, both of which may have output pixels smaller than the effective pixels of the sensor. In practical applications, users can choose different output formats and resolutions according to their needs to improve the real-time, stability and transmission efficiency of images.
Danny Wong’s explanation answers the question of the difference between the output pixels of the SONY FCB-EV9500M and the effective pixels of the sensor in a very detailed and accurate way, and explains the difference between them and what it means in practical applications. It can better help users choose suitable video product solutions according to their actual needs.