Combining ultra-high resolution with fast autofocus and unparalleled low-light performance, Samsung’s newest image sensor allows you to capture any moment in impeccable detail. Here’s how the ISOCELL HP1 is changing the mobile photography game.

200 Million Pixels

The ISOCELL HP1’s ultra-high resolution is a big leap forward for mobile photography. Based on Samsung’s 0.64μm pixels, the ISOCELL HP1 is the world’s first 200-megapixel (MP) image sensor.

The sensor’s groundbreaking pixel count allows you to faithfully capture each and every aspect of your favorite moments. This means that images captured with the ISOCELL HP1 contain a world of detail even when cropped or zoomed in. To help users take full advantage of the 200MP sensor, the ISOCELL HP1 comes with Samsung’s new 4×4 hybrid pixel-binning technology, which allows it to adjust its pixel layout to suit the shooting environment, and is powered by a sophisticated, deep learning-based software remosaic.

The sensor’s pixel-binning technology also enables it to record crisp 8K videos with minimum loss in the field of view. It works by combining four pixels into one 1.28μm-sized pixel, allowing you to capture gorgeous 8K videos at 30fps, and stunning 4K slow-motion clips at 120fps.

Light Up the Night

Say goodbye to grainy low-light photos. The ISOCELL HP1’s combination of pixel-binning technology, Smart-ISO and multisampling allows you to capture clearer photos in dark settings.

When shooting in low-light environments, 4×4 hybrid pixel-binning technology – one of the ISOCELL HP1’s most versatile innovations – merges 16 pixels into one large, 2.56μm-sized pixel. This greatly improves the sensor’s light absorption, producing bright, 12.5MP images with less noise.

Smart-ISO, meanwhile, allows the ISOCELL HP1 to intelligently adjust to various lighting conditions. In dim environments, it switches to High ISO mode to deliver brighter, clearer photos. In well-lit environments, it selects Low ISO mode to ensure accurate colors and to reduce oversaturation. Finally, the image sensor’s multisampling technology reduces noise by analyzing multiple readouts of each pixel and averaging them into one.

Vibrant HDR Photos

The ISOCELL HP1 combines crystal clear details with vivid colors that make your photos pop. This is possible thanks to the addition of cutting-edge technologies like Staggered HDR and Smart-ISO Pro.

The former allows the image sensor to achieve a wide dynamic range of 100dB. A fast and efficient method of producing high dynamic range images, Staggered HDR captures frames at short, middle and long exposures to accurately expose shadows and highlights. It then merges those exposures into one image, so you can enjoy crisp, clear photos even in mixed-lighting scenarios. The ISOCELL HP1 also features Smart-ISO Pro, which takes Smart-ISO’s benefits a step further to enhance HDR video recording with sharper images and fewer motion artifacts.

Focus at the Speed of Life

To make it easier for users to capture fleeting moments, Samsung equipped the ISOCELL HP1 with fast and accurate autofocus. This is made possible thanks to the image sensor’s Double Super PD phase detection technology. Double Super PD technology contains twice as many autofocus pixels as Super PD. Those pixels are covered by AF micro-lenses that allow you to focus on fast-moving objects faster and capture stunning content.

With its groundbreaking resolution and cutting-edge technologies, the ISOCELL HP1 offers users access to a whole new world of detail. Get the most out of any moment with an image sensor that’s designed for a new era of mobile photography.

Dynamic range, which refers to the brightest and darkest parts of a scene, is key to creating vibrant images with your smartphone. However, even the best digital cameras available today are unable to match the dynamic range of the human eye.

To maximize the dynamic range on smartphone cameras, Samsung engineers developed an innovative High Dynamic Range (HDR) solution for mobile image sensors – the Smart-ISO Pro.

How Image Sensors Capture Light

To understand how Smart-ISO Pro creates dynamic and vivid images, it is key to first understand how image sensors capture light and how sensor’s light sensitivity works.

In digital photography, the conversion gain determines the light sensitivity of the image sensor and is utilized to convert light into voltage. When shooting in low-light environments, details in dark areas can be lost if the conversion gain is too low. By contrast, the image sensor may not be able to retain sufficient color information if the conversion gain is too high in brighter environments.

Most mobile image sensors have a fixed conversion gain. This makes it challenging for smartphones to consistently capture high-quality photos across different lighting environments. The problem can then become even more pronounced in mixed lighting environments with extreme lighting discrepancies, such as backlit portraits.

Pro-Grade Photography, Made Simple

To ensure smartphone cameras can deliver clear images even in diverse lighting situations, Samsung developed Smart-ISO technology for its image sensors. This solution equips image sensors with two levels of conversion gain, high and low ISO mode, allowing the camera to select the optimal settings depending on the environment.

When the lighting is low, high ISO mode converts light to voltage with higher conversion gain to express adequate detailing in shadow while reducing noise in the image. Low ISO mode also maximizes the capacity of each individual pixel to prevent oversaturation and to enhance color reproduction in brighter parts of the shot.

Following the development of Smart-ISO, engineers at Samsung began exploring ways to combine two levels of conversion gain into a single image sensor in order to improve the dynamic range. The result is Smart-ISO Pro, an HDR solution that enables the image sensor to capture a single HDR photo with the benefits of both high and low ISO modes.

When the smartphone camera takes a photo, Smart-ISO Pro first converts the light information of the scene into the voltage signal in both high and low ISO modes respectively. Next, the technology intelligently combines the outcome of the two modes together to create a final image with high dynamic range. This enables the image sensor to bring out the detailing of darker areas, retain the natural color of highlight areas, and ultimately produce images that are true-to-life.

Bursting With Color

The power of Smart-ISO Pro technology goes beyond its ability to precisely capture contrasting light and shadowed areas. With 12-bit color depth support, the technology also delivers unparalleled accuracy in color reproduction. Pixels in image sensors record color information through binary digits, also known as bits. The more bits per pixel, the more colors the sensor can produce.

By combining the information from two 10-bit images together, Smart-ISO Pro can express over 687 billion colors, which is 10 times more than a single 10-bit image. When shooting a smartphone’s pro mode, 12-bit HDR images can be saved in RAW format, giving users greater flexibility when it comes to adjusting exposure, white balance, color and more with less concessions.

The integration of Smart-ISO Pro into Samsung’s ISOCELL image sensors is just another way the company is constantly endeavoring to provide users with pro-grade mobile photography solutions. Take a look at the video below to see the uncompromising Smart-ISO Pro technology in action.