The Raspberry Pi Foundation recently released an interchangeable lens camera module based on the Sony IMX477, a 1/2.3″ back side illuminated sensor with 3040×4056 pixels of 1.55um pitch. In this somewhat technical article we will unpack the 12-bit raw still data that it produces and render it in a convenient color space.
Continue reading Opening Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera Raw Files
What are the basic low level steps involved in raw file conversion? In this article I will discuss what happens under the hood of digital camera raw converters in order to turn raw file data into a viewable image, a process sometimes referred to as ‘rendering’. We will use the following raw capture by a Nikon D610 to show how image information is transformed at every step along the way:
In this and the previous article I discuss how Modulation Transfer Functions (MTF) obtained from every raw color plane of a Bayer CFA in isolation can be combined to provide an objective and meaningful composite MTF curve for the imaging system as a whole. There are two main ways to accomplish this goal:
) that reflects the mix of spectral information captured in the raw data, divorced from downstream color science; and
) that reflects the luminance channel of the image as neutrally displayed.Both are valid on their own, though the weights of the former are fixed for any Bayer sensor while the latter are scene, camera/lens and illuminant dependent. For this reason I usually prefer input-referred weights as a first pass when comparing cameras and lens hardware in similar conditions. Continue reading System MTF from Bayer Sensors
In this and the following article I will discuss my thoughts on how MTF50 results obtained from raw data of the four Bayer CFA color channels off a neutral target captured with a typical camera through the slanted edge method can be combined to provide a meaningful composite MTF50 for the imaging system as a whole. The perimeter of the discussion are neutral slanted edge measurements of Bayer CFA raw data for linear spatial resolution (‘sharpness’) photographic hardware evaluations. Corrections, suggestions and challenges are welcome. Continue reading Combining Bayer CFA Modulation Transfer Functions – I