A/D converter, 10, 12 or 14 bit

[leon_pugh]

<p>Do the new mirrorless cameras (Sony A6000, Nikon 1 V3) have 10, 12 or 14 bit a/d ?<br>

I have been unable to find anything on this, what I consider to be an important point.</p>

 

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>Without checking: 10 or 12 bits is old technology, todays standard is 14 its except for a few MF bodies. If the EVIL ones were 16 bits they would have stated it, so my guess is that they are 14 bits.</p>

[Hector Javkin]

<p><strong><a href="http://www.sansmirror.com/cameras/a-note-about-camera-reviews/sony-nex-camera-reviews/sony-a7-and-a7r-review.html">In this review</a></strong>, Thom Hogan claims that Sony is effectively providing 11-bit data in its A7 And A7R bodies, so there may be something similar in the A6000.</p>

[Brad_]

>>> In this review, Thom Hogan claims that Sony is effectively providing 11-bit data in its A7 ...

 

"Effectively" is what it comes down to. Effective Number of Bits, ENOB, is where the truth lies, and speaks

to the design of the system design of the signal acquisition chain and camera.

 

It's very easy to specify and design in, say, a 14 bit ADC, with 14 data lines that can change states. But, without

careful system design, noise of various types from different sources can quickly reduce the effective

number of bits, from the perspective of SNR (which is what you care about in the end), to something much

less, say, 11 or 12 bits.

[laur1]

<blockquote>

<p>Do the new mirrorless cameras (Sony A6000, Nikon 1 V3) have 10, 12 or 14 bit a/d ?<br /></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Check <a href="http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Nikon-1-V3-versus-Sony-A6000___947_942">dxomark sensor specs - "Bits per pixel" line</a>. Those cameras are both shown with 12.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Without checking: 10 or 12 bits is old technology, todays standard is 14 its except for a few MF bodies.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That does not seem to be true. I looked at this recently and most cameras still use 12 bits with just a few having 14 or more (Pentax K-3 is listed with 15!), but it doesn't look like the extra bits necessarily provide an image quality boost. For example, the Sony A7 uses 12 bit and the Nikon D800 uses 14 bit, but they pretty much offer the same sensor performance.</p>

[Brad_]

>>> ... but it doesn't look like the extra bits necessarily provide an image quality boost.

 

Which is my point above. Poor *system* design (in addition to ADCs that do not perform commensurate

with their number of bits) can easily reduce the Effective Number of Bits (ENOB) of a 14 bit ADC to 12 or

even fewer bits.

 

A camera manufacture could even specify a 20 but ADC, but could likely end up with the performance of a

12 bit (or less) converter when ENOB is measured.

 

This is not new information...

[leon_pugh]

<p>Thanks all for the feedback.<br>

I found that link to hold interesting info.<br>

I made a reply earlier but it looks like the system did not accept it.</p>