News Aptina develops 14 mp 1" sensor capable of 4K video

Didn't know that. I guess it should be good for consumers. But then again, maybe not. Sony seems to have a strangle hold on the sensor market.

I believe Panasonic, Fuji & Canon develop their own sensors. Toshiba makes sensors for (at least) Nikon. So while Sony is the most widespread, I don't think they have a "stranglehold" on the market.
 
Samsung make their own sensors too. BTW, I'm not sure Fuji develop their own sensors, might be that they just design their own colour filter arrays to put over the sensor.

4k video is a VERY exciting development IMO. If you combine it with a global shutter, one might argue it could replace stills photography for many people, for instance in social situations you're much more likely to get that "perfect expression" if you're working at 30fps. There was a video on youtube about some fashion photographer who had a RED camera (IIRC) rolling during the entire shoot, and he just selected whichever high-res frame he liked best.
 
I believe Panasonic, Fuji & Canon develop their own sensors. Toshiba makes sensors for (at least) Nikon. So while Sony is the most widespread, I don't think they have a "stranglehold" on the market.

The D800 has a Sony sensor as does the Oly EM5. Not forgetting the sensor in the RX1, the Pentax K cameras, and a few more Nikons. Sony pretty much has the best sensor tech going currently. Also they have 64 CMOS patents, far more than any other company.

http://www.patentfish.com/sony-cmos/new

Safe to assume it has a stranglehold on the current market. Here's Roger Cicala from lensrental comparing Sony's sensor technology to Kodak's film days -

Is Sony Going to be the Digital Kodak?

Sony's market share is 3 times Canon's, which is its closest competition.

TSR Market Share Data for 2H 2011
 
There was a video on youtube about some fashion photographer who had a RED camera (IIRC) rolling during the entire shoot, and he just selected whichever high-res frame he liked best.

IIRC that was Annie Leibovitz shooting what's her name from 30 Rock/Sarah Palin impersonator
 
The D800 has a Sony sensor as does the Oly EM5. Not forgetting the sensor in the RX1, the Pentax K cameras, and a few more Nikons. Sony pretty much has the best sensor tech going currently. Also they have 64 CMOS patents, far more than any other company.

New sony cmos patents | Patentfish.com

Safe to assume it has a stranglehold on the current market. Here's Roger Cicala from lensrental comparing Sony's sensor technology to Kodak's film days -

LensRentals.com - Is Sony Going to be the Digital Kodak?

Sony's market share is 3 times Canon's, which is its closest competition.

Image Sensors World: TSR Market Share Data for 2H 2011

I know the new Nikon D5200 has a Toshiba sensor. The Sony sensor in the Canon SX50 is amazing for such a tiny (1/2.33") piece.

The number of patents is somewhat irrelevant to marketshare, if the IP is licensed by other companies or if competitive processes and designs are in use.

As I said, Sony is the biggest player, but the 3rd link you provided actually demonstrates that Sony does not have a stranglehold on the generalized digital camera market, at a mere 37.3%.
 
Didn't know that. I guess it should be good for consumers. But then again, maybe not. Sony seems to have a strangle hold on the sensor market.

I think it's great that they share patents. Aptina is just a sensor maker, Sony can run with it and turn it into a camera. I don't think of 4K "video" as video in the traditional sense. If you've ever dealt with video from the analog age, each frame was hideous. 4K video I think of as a uber burst mode. The problem is storage. That's a lot of bandwidth. Either it needs to be backed by a lot of RAM or an array of flash to save it RAW. It doesn't matter if the sensor can be read that fast if the frames can't be saved that fast. The other solution to that is compressing it on the fly. That's were Sony comes in again since they already have a 4K video ready chipset. Imagine a RX200 with 4K video. The thing holding it back would be the hit to the Sony professional cameras sales.
 
Now if the sensor is in the same ball park as the Sony RX100 sensor and Nikon stuck it in the P7700 successor, I dont think I'd want even a mirrorless for 90% of my photography ...
 
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