Ikegami XYZ camera at DVinfo.net

Jon Fairhurst · November 17th, 2011, 12:39 PM

Yesterday, I attended a technical talk that mentioned the XYZ camera from Ikegami. Rather than use RGB color filters, the XYZ camera captures the entire gamut - 100% of the colors available to the human eye.

Here's a translation of the Ikegami page: Google Translate

I saw some test results, and the camera truly captured colors right at the curved ring of the CIE color chart with very small errors compared to those of RGB cameras. In fact, right in the middle of the chart, RGB cams can have extreme color errors, while the XYZ cam was nearly spot on.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...srgb_gamut.png

According to the speaker, the camera is 10-bits linear and it has a fair amount of noise, so it's not going to shoot blockbuster films just yet. But it can capture amazingly accurate colors. For some applications (art, textiles, manufacturing, etc), color accuracy is critically important.

In the same talk, they showed the benefits of adding additional colors to RGB displays to extend the gamut. Again, the results are impressive.

The problem with RGB is that you need negative values to create all of the colors perceivable by the human eye. A filter that sucks green out of the environment has yet to be invented. ;) XYZ filters for displays would have terrible light efficiency. Therefore, additional primaries are the solution for wide gamut displays.

DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) already stores video in the XYZ colorspace. I wonder how long it will be before we have cameras and displays that can make full use of it.

Dylan Couper · November 17th, 2011, 02:16 PM

When I read the title, I was going to say "at least I'll never complain about how bad Sony/Panny/Canon are about naming their cameras!" :)

Jon Fairhurst · November 17th, 2011, 04:58 PM

Maybe they'll give it the brand name, "zylophonz". ;)

Under any name, it's impressive. Today, you simply can't take a photo of a beach in Tahiti and faithfully represent all the hues. With this camera, we get very close to that possibility.

Paul Cronin · November 18th, 2011, 07:54 AM

Accurate color from the camera sensor is a huge step forward.

Justin Molush · November 18th, 2011, 08:59 AM

Looks like an interesting idea. Gonna take a few years but I'd be interested to see how this develops.

November 17th, 2011, 12:39 PM	#1
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Ikegami XYZ camera Yesterday, I attended a technical talk that mentioned the XYZ camera from Ikegami. Rather than use RGB color filters, the XYZ camera captures the entire gamut - 100% of the colors available to the human eye. Here's a translation of the Ikegami page: Google Translate I saw some test results, and the camera truly captured colors right at the curved ring of the CIE color chart with very small errors compared to those of RGB cameras. In fact, right in the middle of the chart, RGB cams can have extreme color errors, while the XYZ cam was nearly spot on. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...srgb_gamut.png According to the speaker, the camera is 10-bits linear and it has a fair amount of noise, so it's not going to shoot blockbuster films just yet. But it can capture amazingly accurate colors. For some applications (art, textiles, manufacturing, etc), color accuracy is critically important. In the same talk, they showed the benefits of adding additional colors to RGB displays to extend the gamut. Again, the results are impressive. The problem with RGB is that you need negative values to create all of the colors perceivable by the human eye. A filter that sucks green out of the environment has yet to be invented. ;) XYZ filters for displays would have terrible light efficiency. Therefore, additional primaries are the solution for wide gamut displays. DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) already stores video in the XYZ colorspace. I wonder how long it will be before we have cameras and displays that can make full use of it. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

November 17th, 2011, 02:16 PM	#2
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	Re: Ikegami XYZ camera When I read the title, I was going to say "at least I'll never complain about how bad Sony/Panny/Canon are about naming their cameras!" :) __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

November 17th, 2011, 04:58 PM	#3
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Re: Ikegami XYZ camera Maybe they'll give it the brand name, "zylophonz". ;) Under any name, it's impressive. Today, you simply can't take a photo of a beach in Tahiti and faithfully represent all the hues. With this camera, we get very close to that possibility. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

November 18th, 2011, 07:54 AM	#4
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Re: Ikegami XYZ camera Accurate color from the camera sensor is a huge step forward. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

November 18th, 2011, 08:59 AM	#5
Justin Molush Major Player Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Montreal Posts: 388	Re: Ikegami XYZ camera Looks like an interesting idea. Gonna take a few years but I'd be interested to see how this develops.