ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how the image is acquired and recorded in modern digital cameras. The digital signal then travels to the camera’s internal signal processor, the Digital Signal Processor. In cameras that shoot RAW, the signal path is not the same as traditional high-definition cameras. Most camera sensors operate with red, green, and blue (RGB) information. An RGB signal has potentially the richest color depth and highest resolution, but requires enormous bandwidth and processing power and creates huge amounts of data. In most sensors, outputs from adjoining photosites are combined in ways that vary between manufacturers. The sensors must be precisely aligned so that they line up properly when combined into a single color image. Sensor size does not necessarily correlate to a number of pixels. Sensors can sometimes see things humans can’t perceive, such as an excessive amount of infrared.
