CCD vs CMOS

[lct]

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Are there actual differences between CCD and CMOS sensors in terms of color accuracy?

I'm using both Sony (CCD) and Canon (CMOS) ones but aside from slight oversaturations here and there, i can't seem to notice significant differences between them actually.

Lenses and raw converters can make huge differences but what about sensors per se?

Just curious.

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[mjh]

The part of the sensor assembly that has any relevance to color accuracy are the RGB filters. The filters don’t care whether there’s a CCD or a CMOS chip behind them. Oversaturation of one or two color channels can create color shifts, but technically that is just overexposure and not a fault of the sensor per se. On the other hand, you won’t run into this issue quite is often when your sensor has a wider dynamic range; here the full-frame transfer CCDs have the edge over CMOS sensors (or interline transfer CCDs, for that matter).

[lct]

Thank you Michael. So letting aside the slight oversaturations i was referring to, different colour rendition should come mainly from different RGB filters if i understand well. For instance, when i read some statements to the effect that Kodak, Dalsa or whatever sensor has a better color rendition than say Canon or Sony it boils down to the choice of RGB filters on them right? I suspect that i'm missing something though.

[regedit]

Actually, in my opinion there a 3 philosophies and two technologies. Let's not forget about Foveon CMOS which is CMOS as technology but with another vision. Technically both technologies have strengths and weaknesses in terms of costs and performance but in the end, implementations take into consideration which camera you need to implement, rendering software and the other electronics part used in camera. As an example Pentax used both CMOS and CCD technologies and differentiate on camera class.

[mjh]

For instance, when i read some statements to the effect that Kodak, Dalsa or whatever sensor has a better color rendition than say Canon or Sony it boils down to the choice of RGB filters on them right?

Yep. It is all about the filters’ transmission curves (which were improved in Kodak’s current generation of CCDs as used in the S2 or the Hasselblad H3DII-50). And of course the profiles painstakingly optimized for those filters – converting colors from the sensor’s own idiosyncratic color space to a standardized color space is certainly one of the darker arts.

[lct]

Quite clear, Michael thanks again.