Foveon X3 Sensor - a breakthrough for digital camera industry

After reading the review from DPReview, I'm so impressive of the breakthrough that Sigma DP1 made. Therefore, I would like to introduce this amazing innovation which I believe will set a new standard of the picture quality to all my friends.

In the beginning, I want to show you the front page of Sigma DP1. It contains with 14 million pixel and 2.5" LCD. Although it is a little big for a compact camera, it's still a small one comparing with a DSLR(Digital Single Lens Reflector). I really love this stylish and simple outlook.

DP1 has many aspects of breakthrough in the camera innovation. The first challenge for the Sigma's engineers is how to install a DSLR sensor to a compact camera. Unlike most of the compact camera nowadays choose 1/1.8" sensor, DP1 install a DSLR size senor which provide better quality of clarity and noise-reduction. So, we can easily understand that Sigma's main idea is to create a compact camera with high performance. DP1's main customer will be those who has enough budget to buy a entry level DSLR, but doesn't satisfy with DSLR's large.

This achievement is good, but not impressive enough.....

I think the most incredible part of DP1's senor is their new Foveon X3. It's a complete different idea of sensor design. Below I would like to use some pictures from DPReview to explain how Foveon works.

Traditional Sensor:
Traditionally, a monochromatic (b&w) image sensor uses individual color filters over each photodetector. Therefore, each photodetector can only detect one of either red, green or blue light. Then the algorithm will compensate for a near color to the neighborhood gray pixel. If we look the RGB channel separately, we would see this picture.

Foveon X3 sensor:
For Sigma's engineers, they kept thinking how to avoid the algorithm compensate for neighborhood pixels. Can we just let the colors show itself?? Yes, we can.

Eventually, the engineers use multi-layered filter at each pixel location. This new design meant we can see the full color in our picture rather than the computed color. From the picture below, you can find how much different to the picture above. It's more colorful, bright and clear.


I believe this new design may set a new standard for the camera industry which has been long adopted to use Mosaic sensor. DP1 is a breakthrough product, however, there are some weakness of it. It's reaction is slow and the shutter is sluggish. If you have to shot some sport or rapidly moving subject, DP1 doesn't fit your needs. On the other hand, if you always have plenty of time to take photos, DP1 will be your first choice.

Cool Vespa~

Adjusting photos is always a time-consuming task, so usually I don't adjust every photo. Most of the pictures in my blog just have some brightness, contrast and white balance adjustment. However, if I have some spare time, I review my old pictures to find some interesting ones worth to adjust refinedly. Today, I am going to help my friend adjust his Vespa shot.

First, I want to show you the end version, and then I will explain how to make it more detailed.
If you are an experienced photographer, you can immediately find that this scene is taken in a place with back light. Handling this kind of scene is always a tough problem. In the past, traditional photographers have to use a gradient filter to reduce the exposure of sky. However, digital users have more tools to solve this kind of situation. We can use the traditional ways or adjust it later when we get home.

If you have Photoshop, you can first convert the RAW into two pictures. One of them is over exposed to make the main subject clear. The other one is darker to make the sky more glamorous. Then put these two layers together. Thus we can have one good picture which has a clear subject and a beautiful sky.

The left one is the original picture. After it is processed by photoshop, the high contrast between the sky and the subject is alleviated. Then we can use another software, silkypix, to strengthen the contrast of the second one. Finally, I use photoimpact to trim its size, sharpen its shape, and sign my friend's name.


After you read this passage, you probably have a question that why I use three different software to adjust pictures? Well.........it is because I have gotten used to using different tools to finish specific function. If you want, all these can be finished in photoshop.

Beijing -> Shanghai -> Suzhou -> Hong Kong

It was my first trip to Mainland China. For most of this trip, I traveled by walking, bus, and subway. The public transportation in big cities is very convenient and cheap. If you have any destination that can't be reached by public transportation, you can transfer to a taxi after your arriving at the nearest site. In big cities, the security is the least thing you have to worry about, because there are a lot of polices and security guards in every corner.

Overall, visiting China is interesting and full of cultural shock, though I grew up in Taiwan and received similar Chinese culture. However, there are still a lot of things that I can't get used to. For example, people are impolite and lack manner, they seems not to understand what waiting in line means. Cars never let passengers pass first, so passengers have to be quite cautious to the environment. I think their education has to teach people how to respect others. Except for these unpleasant experiences, traveling in China is full of joy and convenience!

Departure - Sunset

Beijing - YiHeYuan (a beautiful royal garden)

Beijing - PeKing University (a beautiful campus mixed with western and Chinese style)

Beijing - JingShan (the last emperor of Ming dynasty committed suicide in this place)

Beijing - street view

Beijing - The Forbidden City

Beijing - Old district (The least changed area in Beijing)

Beijing - TianTan park (Historically, it's for the emperor to pray for the next year's harvest. Architecturally, the ancients didn't use any nail to build this building. On the contrary, they used tenon to link woods perfectly)

Beijing - The bird's nest (This area is still under construction. Maybe I came here too early)

Shanghai - daytime street view (It was foggy and rainy when the first few days after I arrived. People in Shanghai are more friendly than in Beijing and obviously more rich and well-mannered. Sometimes you can see a Ferrari or a Lamborghini in the street. Unlike those taxi drivers in Beijing are impatient to customers, drivers in Shanghai are more polite. When you get on the taxi, drivers would greet you with smiles and remind you "don't forget all your belongings" before you get out.)
Shanghai - night street view

Shanghai - I don't know the exact name of this cable car, but it's too expensive to cross the river by it.

Shanghai - YuYuan (a beautiful ancient garden)

Suzhou - ZhuoZhengYuan (It's the most famous garden of southern China)

Suzhou - LiuYuan (the other famous garden in Suzhou. This garden is considered the representative of all the gardens in the Ching Dynasty. BTW, it is the first time I tried to catch the feeling of rainy day.)

Suzhou - Tigerhill (This place was the capital of Wu Dynasty 3000 years ago. Therefore, there is full of historical objects. This tower is called the Chinese Pisa Tower famous for its leaning.)

Hong Kong - It is a busy, prosperous, and never sleeping city. This city itself can be considered a super big shopping mall containing with numerous large shopping malls, stores, and restaurants. It is quite easy for a stranger to get lost in the city, though there is full of signs and directions on the road or in the Ads.

Food - Eating is always the most joyful thing in travel.


If you are interested in other pictures, please visit Daniel's main blog where I have 19 posts and many other photos about this trip.

The first post!

It's not my first time to use google blogger, but it's my first time to set two blog with similar content. Although I don't need to worry about the source, thinking the blog's site-name and elements is still annoying. However, my original blog site, msn space, is unstable. Sometimes my friends tell me that they can't see the whole content in my blog. It is the worst thing that you can not show what you wrote to your friends.

Another reason is to practice my English, though writing has long been my weakness. Since I'm going to study in US, it will be better to set my English version blog trough which I can introduce my life to my new friends. These reasons together push me to set my new blog.

"Hello blogger!"