From Emily Price,
Your Guide to Camcorders.
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Jan 15 2007

Planet 82 launched its new VGA-color, Single carrier Modulation Photo Detector (SMPD) today at CES.The sensor could potentially make a dramatic change in the night vision abilities of consumer camcorders and digital still cameras.

The company describes the SMPD as “the world’s first, full-color, high-sensitive image chip for taking pictures or video in the dark- without a flash” The SMPD sensor is 2,000 times more light-sensitive than a traditional CMOS or CCD sensor and is less than half the size.

Unlike CMOS and CCD technology, the SMPD can react to light levels of less than 1 lux which is the equivalent of light from one candle meter away. The sensor can capture low light video at a rate of 30fps, much faster than its SMOS and CCD counterparts.

Planet 82 is currently testing SMPD-based applications for devices such as Closed-Circuit Television cameras, digital still cameras, and self parking automobiles. The chips is expected to be much better more cost effective than CMOS and CCD technology.

At CES, Planet 82 demonstrated the SMPD technology in a video camera that was able to capture a full-color image in a room with the lights turned completely off, without using any sort of external light source.