Inside Story

Enabling high picture quality with minimal noise

The GX200 went on sale to great fanfare. The improved features and performance were quickly welcomed by users and numerous works were quickly posted on blog sites. We decided to first explore how the hardware supports the further expanded photographic range and enhanced freedom in picture-taking.

"We reduced ghost images by fine tuning of the optical system." (Katsunobu Yoshida)

With the GX200, high picture quality was pursued from diverse angles. One was to employ a CCD of 12.1 million pixels. The CCD is an array of pixels that convert the light captured by the lens into an electric charge. With the GX200, the increase in pixels to 12.1 million captures the light in greater detail before handing over the electric signals to the image processing engine.

Katsunobu Yoshida, who was in charge of designing the lens system, says, "The first and foremost role of the lens system is to deliver the best light to the CCD." The exceptional resolution of a lens system that enables a wide shooting range of 24 ~ 72 mm is the first step to bright sharp images across the picture plane. Yoshida added, "With the GX200, we fine-tuned the optical system to reduce ghosts that readily appeared under stressed shooting conditions such as backlit shots." This fine-tuning has been highly applauded for the "enhanced beauty found in sunset and sunrise picture-taking."

Reducing noise with optimized circuitry design

	"We designed the circuitry for reduced noise." (Toshiyuki Kobayashi)

Toshiyuki Kobayashi, who was in charge of electric circuitry design, pointed out that "We designed circuits as short as possible so that images would be transferred in all of their untouched beauty without any noise infiltration when the CCD sends the signals to the image processing engine." The medium is analog electric signals. Noise penetrates and degrades signals depending on circuit length and layout. Meticulous tuning and well-thought-out circuitry design formed the foundation for a resolution that delivers outstanding picture quality with little noise interference.

*All focal distances in this text have been converted to 35 mm format camera.