A useful exercise to tell enthusiasts about the detail level of a 200 megapixel camera and why not, also to verify the quality of the work done. And in this case even to be pleased with it, judging by how it went. It is Samsung’s experiment, which tested its sensor in “real” life conditions 200 megapixel ISOCELLall documented by the story published on the portal.
THE CHALLENGES TO OBTAIN A PHOTO ON A ‘BASKETBALL’ CANVAS
Samsung says that having never applied the highest resolution ISOCELL ever produced on a smartphone – it is not specified, but it should be the HP1 presented last September – there was curiosity among the designers themselves to find out how it went in the field, what results he could obtain and if he had obtained a photo of acceptable quality to be printed on a 616 m2 clothone and a half times a basketball court.
We wanted to know the limits of the 200 megapixel sensor and ascertain its quality: this is why we came to this challenge – said Changwan Kim, project manager of Samsung’s Global Marcom Team.
The challenge was demanding because it was the first time we approached it with the intention of showing others the quality of a sensor that has yet to be used on smartphones – said Minhyuk Lee, an engineer with Samsung’s Sensor Solutions Team.
In short, the point is that the sensor in question is still under development by Samsung’s own admission, it needs to be optimized. But evidently the team had such faith in the product that they even decided to relaunch: the photo had to be taken of a moving subject. And we chose the worst animal that we can decide to photograph – benevolently, mind you: a cat.
Choosing a cat as our subject was a difficult decision. We had to overcome many obstacles, such as capturing such an active subject with a test card – says Minhyuk Lee. However, the team decided that the subject had to be something that could enhance the sensor’s high level of detail and be popular at the same time.
AMAZING TO SEE THE FINAL RESULT
The test board Lee cited is nothing more than hardware to test the sensor with. There is no smartphone that uses it, so the only thing was to mount it on a board – the sort of printed circuit you see in the picture – that would animate it and allow photographers to frame the scene.
Then there was to be identified the scenerybut the solution was soon arrived at: a domestic environment, a place where the viewer could identify, then photograph “in the same condition that the owner of a smartphone would be in”, they tell. The finished photo then on the huge 28 x 22 meter advertising canvas has not been modified in post production, only the first shooting parameters, exposure and focus have been adjusted.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the raw image zoomed in at 100% – said Hyunjoong Kim. I was really blown away by the level of detail. In that moment, I realized that all the prejudices I had had regarding smartphone photography had been disproved.
Printing wasn’t easy, because obviously a 616 sq m image cannot be put down in one go. Then 12 portions of 2.3 meter long canvas were printed then stitched side by side to arrive at the huge sheet affixed to a building thanks to a crane.
The ultimate advantage of a 200MP sensor is that it allows users to capture an image that can be enlarged and cropped without affecting the quality of the shot – said Kaeul Lee and Minhyuk Lee. The 200MP sensor will soon become the standard solution for 8K video recording.
