Ultrahigh-definition color video camera system with 4K-scanning lines

An experimental ultrahigh-definition color video camera system with 7680 (H) x 4320 (V) pixels has been developed using four 8-million-pixel CCDs. The 8-million-pixel CCD with a progressive scanning rate of 60 frames per second has 4046 (H) x 2048 (V) effective imaging pixels, each of which is 8.4 micron(2). We applied the foul-imager pickup method to increase the camera's resolution. This involves attaching four CCDs to a special color-separation prism. Two CCDs are used for the green image; and the other two are used for red and blue. The spatial image sampling pattern of these CCDs to the optical image is equivalent to one with 32 million pixels in the Bayer pattern color filter. The prototype camera attains a limiting resolution of more than 2700 TV lines both horizontally and vertically, which is higher than that of an 8-million-CCD. The sensitivity of the camera is 2000 lux, F 2.8 at approx. 50 dB of dark-noise level on the HDTV format. Its other specifications are a dynamic range of 200 %, a power consumption of about 600 W and a weight, with lens, of 76 kg.