South Korean tech giant Samsung has today unveiled its new 50-megapixel image sensor named Samsung ISOCELL GN1, making it the company’s first camera sensor to come with both Dual Pixel and Tetracell technologies.
The new 50MP ISOCELL GN1 is a large 1/1.3″ camera sensor with comparatively big 1.2μm pixels. The size of the sensor is actually slightly bigger than the 108MP ISOCELL HM1 used in the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which has an optical format of 1/1.33″. Samsung reveals that the GN1 is the company’s first image sensor to offer both Dual Pixel and Tetracell technologies. The bigger pixel size is said to bring image sensor performance to a “new level” with a combination of elevated light sensitivity for better low-light photos and DSLR-level autofocus speeds. The Dual Pixel technology creates 100-million phase-detecting photodiodes for fast auto-focusing and light information that can be translated up to 100 megapixels, according to the company.
The ISOCELL GN1 naturally also has Samsung’s Tetracell technology, which is nothing but the company’s name for 4-in-1 pixel binning. Samsung describes it as a pixel merging technique that improves the pixels’ capacity to capture and process more light. It doubles the “effective pixel size” to 2.4μm and quadruples the light sensitivity to take bright 12.5MP photos. The improved light sensitivity is because of the 1.2μm pixel size, which is higher than the standard 0.8μm pixel size of other high-resolution camera sensors. The sensor also comes with Smart-ISO to intelligently select the optimal ISO. The GN1 supports video recording at up to 8K resolution at 30fps.
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