Samsung announces new ISOCELL HP3 200-megapixel image sensor

(Image Courtesy: Samsung)

Samsung, the Korean technology giant, has introduced a new 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP3 image sensor that the company says has the world's smallest pixel at just 0.56-micrometers (µm).

The ISOCELL HP3, has a 12% smaller pixel size than the last generation's HP2 with 0.64 µm pixels. The company says the sensor has 200 million pixels in a 1/1.4" optical format. This enables Samsung to reduce the camera module surface area by 20%.

Samsung also highlighted the module's Super QPD auto-focusing, which gives all the pixels auto-focusing capabilities. It also uses a single lens cover over four-adjacent pixels, that allow it to detect phase differences in both horizontal and vertical orientations.

There is support for 8K video at 30fps or 4K video at 120fps, with minimal FoV (Field of View) loss while taking 8K videos.

As for the sensor's low light capabilities, the HP3's Tetra 2 pixel technology combines four pixels into one, allowing for a 1.12 µm 50-megapixel sensor, or a 12.5-megapixel sensor with 2.24 µm pixels by combining 16 pixels together. This allows the sensor to simulate large size pixel technology, that help with brighter and more vibrant photos in low-light.

The ISOCELL HP3 also has an improved Smart-ISO Pro feature, that merges image information from the two conversion gains of low and high ISO modes, to create HDR images. There are three ISO modes on the new sensor - low, mid and high.

The Smart-ISO Pro also allows over 4 trillion colors (14-bit color), which is a substantial upgrade over the HP2's 12-bit color support. Staggered HDR allows the sensor to switch between the Smart-ISO modes, taking into account shooting conditions, to produce HDR images.