Samsung has unveiled its latest smartphone camera sensor with a new feature called Dual Pixel Pro that promises faster and more accurate autofocus. The 50-megapixel ISOCELL GN2 sensor is likely to come to Samsung’s next generation Galaxy smartphones and other devices.
With Dual Pixel Phase Detection Technology, used by both Samsung and Canon, each sensor pixel is vertically divided into two photodiodes. As they receive the light from slightly different angles, the focus is quickly and directly based on the offset. Each pixel on the sensor is used for autofocus, which increases the AF speed without affecting the sensor performance. It differs from ordinary sensors with phase detection, which uses much less AF pixels around the sensor which negatively affects the sensor’s performance.
Samsung’s Dual Pixel Pro sensors divide the pixels diagonally rather than vertically. Thus, each pixel can compare the light coming in from top to bottom, as well as from left to right as before. This allows the system to calculate autofocus faster in certain cases, such as when you turn on your smartphone. (According to a recent patent, Canon would split the pixels into four to achieve the same.)
Another new feature on the GN2 sensor is something Samsung calls baffling HDR technology. Shooting high-contrast scenes such as sunsets can capture multiple frames in short, medium, and long exposures. This means you may have to stop the camera to take a recording, although it will probably use 24 percent less energy compared to Samsung’s real-time HDR mode.
The GN2 also uses a new feature called Smart ISO. It effectively uses multiple ISO settings on a single photo to create “images with a high dynamic range with fewer motion artifacts”, according to Samsung. In very low light, it can quickly take and process different frames in high ISO, increasing the light sensitivity to almost 1 million ISO, while reducing the noise.
Finally, the GN2 can deliver 100-megapixel images, an intelligent re-mosaic algorithm that combines three individual 50-megapixel layers in red, green, and blue. “These frames are then scaled up and merged to produce a single ultra-high 100-megapixel resolution photo,” according to Samsung. As before, it can also combine four pixels into one for improved sensitivity at low light, at the expense of a lower resolution.
The GN2 sensor is now in production, which means it is likely to appear in the upcoming Samsung Galaxy smartphones. It could be a future Galaxy Note device or the next generation Galaxy phones from Samsung (the S22?) That will appear next year.