InVisage QuantumFilm Promises 4x Cameraphone Sharpness [Video]

Despite climbing megapixel counts, cameraphones still don't seem to offer the same photographic performance as a dedicated point-and-shoot.  Startup InVisage hope to change all that – and revolutionise the digicam market along the way – with their new QuantumFilm image sensor tech: they reckon it's capable of 4x the sharpness of current cameraphone CMOS sensors, along with offering twice the dynamic range.  If that doesn't mean much to you, then how about a 12-megapixel iPhone camera in the same amount of space the current 3-megapixel sensor occupies.Video demo after the cut

At the heart of the technology is InVisage's new quantum dot material, which replaces the traditional CMOS sensor and is far more efficient at capturing light.  A CMOS is only good for around 25-percent of the light that actually falls on it, whereas the QuantumFilm sensor can capture 90 to 95-percent of light.

Because there's more light, that means more details in the end-picture, and since the quantum dot material is more efficient it's actually cheaper than high-resolution CMOS sensors.  InVisage expect production of the QuantumFilm sensor to kick off in Q4 2010, with products using it – including cameraphones, digital cameras and more – to arrive on the market in 2011.