Samsung unveiled its latest smartphone camera sensor with a new feature called Dual Pixel Pro, which promises faster and more accurate autofocus. The 50-megapixel ISOCELL GN2 sensor is likely to reach next-generation Galaxy smartphones and other Samsung devices.
With Dual Pixel phase detection technology, used by both Samsung and Canon, each pixel of the sensor is divided vertically into two photodiodes. As they receive light from slightly different angles, the focus is calculated quickly and directly based on the displacement. Each pixel in the sensor is used for autofocus, increasing AF speeds without affecting sensor performance. This differs from regular phase detection sensors, which use far fewer AF pixels distributed around the sensor that negatively affect the sensor’s performance.
Samsung’s Dual Pixel Pro sensors divide pixels diagonally instead of vertically. In doing so, each pixel can compare the light that comes in from top to bottom, as well as from left to right as before. This allows the system to calculate the autofocus more quickly in certain cases, such as rotating the smartphone, for example. (According to a recent patent, Canon would divide the pixels into four to do the same thing.)
Another new feature of the GN2 sensor is something that Samsung calls stepped HDR technology. If you are shooting high-contrast scenes like sunset, you can capture multiple frames in short, medium and long exposures. This means that you may have to keep the camera still to capture a photo, although it supposedly uses 24 percent less energy compared to Samsung’s real-time HDR mode.
GN2 also uses a new feature called Smart ISO. This effectively uses multiple ISO settings in a single photo to “create high dynamic range images with less motion artifacts,” according to Samsung. In extremely low light conditions, it can quickly capture and process multiple frames at high ISO, increasing light sensitivity to almost 1 million ISO while reducing noise.
Finally, GN2 can produce 100-megapixel images in an intelligent re-mosaic algorithm, merging three individual 50-megapixel layers in red, green and blue. “These frames are then enlarged and merged to produce a single 100 megapixel ultra-high resolution photograph,” according to Samsung. As before, it can also combine four pixels into one to improve sensitivity to low light, at the cost of a lower resolution.
The GN2 sensor is now in production, which means it will likely appear on the next Samsung Galaxy smartphones. This could be a future Galaxy Note device or Samsung’s next generation Galaxy phones (the S22?) Which will be released next year.