In digital photography

Digital photography

Digital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...

, the CYGM filter is an alternative colour filter array

Color filter array

In photography, a color filter array , or color filter mosaic , is a mosaic of tiny color filters placed over the pixel sensors of an image sensor to capture color information....

 to the Bayer filter

Bayer filter

A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camcorders, and scanners to create a color image...

 (GRGB). It similarly uses a mosaic of pixel filters, of cyan

Cyan

Cyan from , transliterated: kýanos, meaning "dark blue substance") may be used as the name of any of a number of colors in the blue/green range of the spectrum. In reference to the visible spectrum cyan is used to refer to the color obtained by mixing equal amounts of green and blue light or the...

, yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

, green

Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...

 and magenta

Magenta

Magenta is a color evoked by light stronger in blue and red wavelengths than in yellowish-green wavelengths . In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light...

, and so also requires demosaicing

Demosaicing

A demosaicing algorithm is a digital image process used to reconstruct a full color image from the incomplete color samples output from an image sensor overlaid with a color filter array...

 to produce a full-colour image.

CYGM gives more accurate luminance

Luminance

Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through or is emitted from a particular area, and falls within a given solid angle. The SI unit for luminance is candela per square...

 information than the Bayer filter, hence a wider dynamic range

Dynamic range

Dynamic range, abbreviated DR or DNR, is the ratio between the largest and smallest possible values of a changeable quantity, such as in sound and light. It is measured as a ratio, or as a base-10 or base-2 logarithmic value.-Dynamic range and human perception:The human senses of sight and...

, but at the expense of colour accuracy.

The CYGM filter is far less common than the Bayer filter. CCDs

Charge-coupled device

A charge-coupled device is a device for the movement of electrical charge, usually from within the device to an area where the charge can be manipulated, for example conversion into a digital value. This is achieved by "shifting" the signals between stages within the device one at a time...

 that use it include the 3 megapixel Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 ICX252AK and ICS252AKF (which sampled in October 1999).

Cameras that use it include several Canon models of the 1999-2000 period, such as the Canon PowerShot S10, the original Canon Digital IXUS

Canon Digital IXUS

The Digital IXUS is a series of digital cameras released by Canon. It is a line of ultracompact cameras, originally based on the design of Canon's IXUS/IXY/ELPH line of APS cameras....

 (June 2000), though subsequent IXUS models used the Bayer filter, and the Canon G1; the Kodak DCS 620x and DCS 720x DSLRs, and several Nikon Coolpix models.

See also

• Colour filter array
  Color filter array
  In photography, a color filter array , or color filter mosaic , is a mosaic of tiny color filters placed over the pixel sensors of an image sensor to capture color information....
  
  
• Bayer filter
  Bayer filter
  A Bayer filter mosaic is a color filter array for arranging RGB color filters on a square grid of photosensors. Its particular arrangement of color filters is used in most single-chip digital image sensors used in digital cameras, camcorders, and scanners to create a color image...
  
  
• RGBE filter
  RGBE filter
  In digital photography, the RGBE filter is an alternative color filter array to the Bayer filter . It similarly uses a mosaic of pixel filters, of red, green, blue and "emerald" , and so also requires demosaicing to produce a full-color image...
  
  
• Foveon X3 sensor
  Foveon X3 sensor
  The Foveon X3 sensor is a CMOSimage sensor for digital cameras, designed by Foveon, Inc. and manufactured by National Semiconductorand Dongbu Electronics....