Digital Color Management: Encoding Solutions, 2nd Edition

5

Electronic Imaging Systems

In Chapter 4, the colorimetric properties of several different types of electronic displays were described. Forming complete imaging systems based on such displays additionally requires an image-capture device and a means for applying appropriate image signal processing. In this chapter a complete electronic imaging system will be developed, and optimum image-capture characteristics and signal processing will be determined.

The example system will be analyzed in terms of its basic imaging functions (Figure 5.1). The system will consist of a digital still camera, which will perform the functions of image capture and signal processing, and a CRT-based monitor for image display. Why use a CRT display in this analysis? Although they now are being replaced by other types of electronic display devices, CRTs were virtually universal when industry standards were developed for conventional video and high-definition television (HDTV) cameras, broadcast television signals, and many digital image-encoding metrics, all of which continue to be in wide use. To conform to these existing standards, newer electronic cameras still must be capable of producing CRT-compatible color-image signals, whether or not the images they produce are ever reproduced on a CRT display.

Similarly, newer display devices must be capable of working with color signals originally intended for CRT displays. So although CRT technology eventually may become obsolete, its influence on electronic ...