Curved sensor technology from Sony

This one is for the photo nerds out there.

One of the major manufacturers of the image sensors used in digital cameras is Sony. Although they of course make their own cameras, they also produce the sensors for other companies such as Nikon.

If you think of your eye, the surface that the light falls on is curved. There is a reason for that - it's far more efficient. Camera film and sensors are flat, which means that the central part of an image is usually better than the outside. Some tweaks can be made to improve the image quality overall, but usually that is at the expense of reduced quality in the centre.

Sony has patented and is developing a curved sensor that should address many of the issues that lens makers have been struggling with pretty much forever. The new sensor design will mean new lenses will be required to suit, but that could lead to some really interesting new types of lenses - potentially lighter, more compact, faster, better quality images and cheaper!

I'm loving my Sony A7 that is taking advantage of the digital format compared to equivalent in image quality but significantly bigger & heavier DSLR cameras that still base their design on SLR film cameras. This new sensor will push things even further. I'm really excited about the possibilities!