New OmniVision sensor chips promise 4K2K smartphone videos

Smartphones are quickly replacing the need for a camera. The phone is always within arm's reach, and ready to capture any subject worth documenting with a digital still or video image. The reason we're still toting around cameras is the resolution and a few other features such as focus for a sharp image. The Smartphone may soon catch up, however. OmniVision just released details on two new 16-megapixel CameraChip sensors for use in digital still cameras, digital video cameras and high-end smartphones.

OmniVision's OV16820 and OV16825 CameraChip sensors support 16-megapixel burst photography, and capture 4K2K, or Quad Full High Definition (QFHD) video at 60 frames per second. Burst photography is when several still images are captured in quick succession, which gives you frame-by-frame style footage of an activity, and is useful for capturing a group of images in order to pick the best shot for the photo album.

Video captured in QFHD, or 4K2K video, is four times the resolution of the 1080p HDTV video standard. QFHD offers a display resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixel ratio. That video is captured at 60 frames per second. In 1080p resolution, HD video is captured at the same 60 FPS, with extra pixels for electronic image stabilization.

Both the still burst photography and QFHD video features involve a number of required image processing activities such as defective pixel and noise cancelling, RAW scaling, image size, frame rate, exposure, gain, cropping and orientation. Each of these are programmable through a serial camera control bus (SCCB) interface.

Industry standard connectivity including up to 8-lane MIPI and LVDS output interfaces allow for high data transfer rates on both the OV16820 and OV16825 chips. The OV16820 will come in a ceramic land grid array (CLGA) – the OV16825, in a die form (RW/COB). OmniVision expects to make both chips available in Q4 2012.

Source: OmniVision via Engadget