Comparison of primary and complementary color filters for CCD-based digital photography

Richard L. Baer; William D. Holland; Jack M. Holm; Poorvi L. Vora

doi:10.1117/12.342859

22 March 1999 Comparison of primary and complementary color filters for CCD-based digital photography

Richard L. Baer, William D. Holland, Jack M. Holm, Poorvi L. Vora

Proceedings Volume 3650, Sensors, Cameras, and Applications for Digital Photography; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.342859
Event: Electronic Imaging '99, 1999, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

This paper presents a comparison between primary (RGB) and complementary (CYMG) CCD color filters arrays, as applied to digital photography. Our analysis is based upon the measured spectral characteristics of the primary and complementary color versions of the Matsushita MN3776 CCD. The important role of the color correction matrix on the quality of the image is considered both in terms of noise and color saturation. Our calculations show that there is a tradeoff between color saturation and ISO speed, when complementary filters are used. Complementary color filters only gain an ISO speed advantage when the color saturation is low. When the color correction matrix is chosen to make the ISO speeds of the two filter systems equivalent, the well capacity of the complementary CCD must be significantly higher because of the higher overall transmission of its color filters. Our comparison includes ISO speed calculations and plots of the color gamut for primary and complementary color filters with various color correction matrices. We conclude that primary color filters are superior for digital photography.

Citation Download Citation

Richard L. Baer, William D. Holland, Jack M. Holm, and Poorvi L. Vora "Comparison of primary and complementary color filters for CCD-based digital photography", Proc. SPIE 3650, Sensors, Cameras, and Applications for Digital Photography, (22 March 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.342859

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