This is not true. Nikon has the facilities and use the facilities to make their own sensors. What they do not hav is a semiconductor fabrication line, so the wafer fab is contracted out. This is not unusual, many semiconductor companies are fabless, including for instance OmniVision, Fujifilm, Foveon and Aptina amongst sensor manufacturers.
Ok, I was referring to production as in being able to produce sensors all the way from the drawing table to finished product - like Canon, Sony and Panasonic can.
It would be a more sensible strategy for Canon, since the capital tied up in the fab lines limits their flexibility.
You could be right, looking at the cooperation between Sony and Nikon is an indication that owning the entire chain is not necessary to be sucessful.
Nikon has expertise in making CFA;s and microlens layers, the other components of image sensors, and also has a packaging plant. The sensors are Nikon, no matter where the fab is contracted.
Ok, agree on that. I am more used to argue with Sony zealots who think along the lines of Nikon being a helpless pawn to mighty Sony because "Sony makes Nikons sensors"
To me it appear the cooperation between those companies is a lot more bi-directional then many people seem to realize.
And, they have a long running (and so far very fruitful) cooperation with Sony about sensors where they often buy and use basic Sony designs and tweak them to their own liking, but still let Sony manufacture them. (As do others, like Pentax)
The Nikon sensors are not 'manufactured' or even fabbed by Sony.
I guess you are referring to the likes of D3/D700 or D3s sensors? Then I might agree since I honestly dont know which companies are involved - besides Nikon - in the process. But as for sensors like the ones in D7000/D5100 or the ones D300/D300s, D90, and D5000 they are indeed manufactured by Sony (at least that is what Nikon people say).
Keep in mind that Sony makes many of the small P&S sensors for most other camera brands - like Nikon, Pentax, Canon, Ricoh and to my knowledge also Panasonic and Olympus.
Panasonic makes many (most) of the Panasonic (and Olympus) P&S sensors. In the P&S market there is so much OEMing that many manufacturers are selling the same cameras.
I test a lot of P&S cameras, and sometimes they are indeed suspiciously alike
Many of the the waterproof P&S models are good examples where even the actual housing is remarkably similar with just some outside details here and there separating the cameras. And then of course the firmware is quite different.
If you are referring to the back side illuminated (BSI) designs, I doubt the new mirrorless Nikon camera would use such a design.
I'm not referring to that, I'm referring to the column ADC which endows the sensor with very low read noise at low ISO's, an important characteristic for a small sensor, which will be using low ISO settings more than a large sensor.
Agree. But the new Nikon mirrorless seem rumoured to get a CCD right?
Since it seem the mirrorless Nikon will have an almost unique sensor size, it would not make any sense to use anything but rather standard sensor technology or the price for the sensors would sky rocket.
I doubt whether it will use any special sensor tech. 10MP on 2.7x gives a pixel size of 2.4 microns, an in between size for a modern sensor - I wonder where that will come from?
I am most surprised if the rumours about it being a CCD is true. CMOS designs has completely overtaken the DSLR sizes, and seem to spread quickly in the P&S realm as well.
Basically agree. I think the development could be a joint effort though, both have their areas of expertise in the field, but Sony alone (among those two) has the manufacturing capabilities.
Wrong, as discussed above. Don't confuse semiconductor fabrication with sensor manufacturing.
I think we are thinking of slightly different things when we say "sensor manufacturing" - I am thinking of the entire chain, including the semiconductor part.
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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every moment of it!
By the way, film is not dead.
It just smell funny
