Canon® EOS 5D Digital Field Guide

Appendix A. Canon CMOS Sensors and Image Processors

In This Appendix

• Canon-produced CMOS Sensors

• DiG!C II Image Processor

As Canon's ongoing research and development continues to refine camera features, Canon has progressively applied new and improved technologies throughout its camera lineup. As a result, photographers can rely on a consistently high level of quality, and this is certainly true in the EOS 5D.

As one of the finest cameras in the EOS line-up, the 5D reflects Canon's pioneering work in the field of CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) imaging sensors — work that continues today with the evolution of CMOS sensors in the latest EOS digital SLRs. An understanding of both the sensor technology and the internal processor is beneficial to better understand the camera and the image files that it produces.

Canon-produced CMOS Sensors

The EOS 5D, along with all of Canon's dSLRs, features a Canon-produced CMOS image sensor. While Canon isn't the only camera manufacturer that uses CMOS sensors, it is the only company, at the time of this writing, that produces and markets full-frame, 35mm-size image sensors — sensors that are used in the EOS 1Ds Mark III and the EOS 5D. Canon is also one of the few companies that designs and manufacturers its sensors in-house for all of its dSLRs.

Figure A.1. look inside the Canon EOS 5D.

Sensors are, of course, at the heart of digital photography. ...