Polaroid x530: the digital compact camera on 4.5-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor

Such an interesting news for all who follow the evolution and implementation of Foveon sensors: today the company announced that the new x530 digital compact camera released under the Polaroid brand will be equipped with the 4.5MP Foveon X3 sensor. As far as I know, before we could see Foveon solutions only in higher-class Sigma SD9/SD10 DSLR products.

Polaroid x530, expected in June 2004 for about $399, should provide a nice opportunity to test benefits and drawbacks of Foveon X3. The model will be produced by World Wide Licenses Ltd. (subsidiary of The Character Group PLC) in Hong Kong. It will support JPEG, RAW, and 640x480 VGA movies @ 24 fps. More specs include:

• 1/1.8" Foveon X3 CMOS
• 4.7 total megapixels, 1440x1088 x 3 layers (1.5R, 1.5G, 1.5B)
• 4.5 effective megapixels, 1420x1060 x 3 layers (1.5R, 1.5G, 1.5B)
• 5µm pixel pitch
• 7.1x5.3mm sensor size, 8.8mm diagonal
• 4:3 aspect ratio
• Max. image size at up to 7 fps is 1420x1060 x 3 layers; at 30 fps — 640x480 x 3 layers (VPS)

We also know that Polaroid x530 will be supplied with the recently announced X3 Fill Light software.

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