Though Foveon claims to make a superior chip for digital cameras, it has few customers.
In 1997 Mead spun the retina off into a company called Foveon, which Faggin runs today.
The full-color Foveon X3 direct image sensor ensures outstanding resolution, richly gradated tones and images with a three-dimensional feel.
ENGADGET: Sigma finally announces price and availability for DP1 Merrill compact
Moreover, Monochrome Mode makes it possible to generate monochrome images fully optimizing the Foveon X3 direct image sensor capabilities.
ENGADGET: Sigma DP3 Merrill packs a Foveon X3 sensor and a fixed F2.8, 75mm-equivalent lens
Foveon may find selling its products on the basis of quality, rather than raw pixel count, a marketing challenge.
X3 sensor, says Jim Lau, chief executive of Foveon, is that it should make possible a new kind of hybrid camera.
Equipped with the Foveon X3 image sensor, the DP3 Merrill ensures outstanding resolution and natural rendering with rich gradation as well as a three-dimensional feel.
ENGADGET: Sigma DP3 Merrill packs a Foveon X3 sensor and a fixed F2.8, 75mm-equivalent lens
But the quality gap will shrink, along with the cost gap, as cheap, film-quality digital schemes such as Foveon's work their way into future camcorders.
The Foveon X3 direct image sensor captures all primary RGB colors at each and every pixel location with 3 layers, ensuring the capture of full and complete color.
ENGADGET: Sigma DP3 Merrill packs a Foveon X3 sensor and a fixed F2.8, 75mm-equivalent lens
The dual "TRUE (Three-layer Responsive Ultimate Engine) II" image processing engine dedicated to Foveon X3 direct image sensors improves the processing speed and overall quality of the final image.
ENGADGET: Sigma DP3 Merrill packs a Foveon X3 sensor and a fixed F2.8, 75mm-equivalent lens
This upgraded, high-resolution, compact digital camera with a fixed lens is named in honor of Richard "Dick" Merrill, the co-creator of the Foveon X3 Direct Image Sensor technology that powers Sigma's unique lineup of cameras.
ENGADGET: Sigma finally announces price and availability for DP1 Merrill compact
It differs from its predecessor, the DP1x, because its lens now includes one "F" Low Dispersion glass element to correct aberrations, and its resolution has grown by moving from Foveon's 14.6-megapixel APS-C size image sensor to the 46-megapixel APS-C image sensor found in the company's flagship SLR, the Sigma SD1 Merrill.
ENGADGET: Sigma finally announces price and availability for DP1 Merrill compact
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