Canon Inc. announced today that it has successfully developed a high-sensitivity 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor exclusively for video recording.

Delivering high-sensitivity, low-noise imaging performance, the new sensor  enables the capture of Full HD video even in as little as 0.03 lux of illumination (the brightness of a crescent moon). It is capable of recording faint stars with a magnitude of 8.5 and above. The new sensor features pixels measuring 19 microns square in size, which is more than 7.5-times the surface area of the pixels on the CMOS sensor in Canon’s top-of-the-line EOS-1DX  DSLR. The sensor’s pixels and readout circuitry employ new technologies that reduce noise, which tends to increase as pixel size increases.  

The company is looking to future applications for the new sensor in astronomical and natural observation, support for medical research, and use in surveillance and security equipment.  Canon Marketing Japan Inc. will be exhibiting a prototype camera that incorporates the newly developed 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor and sample footage captured with the camera at Security Show 2013 (www.shopbiz.jp/en/ss/), which will be held from Tuesday, March 5, to Friday, March 8, at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center in Tokyo, Japan.