OLEDs for digital cameras - introduction and industry news - Page 3

Samsung's NX20 is now shipping for $1,099 (including a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens). The NX20 is Samsung's flagship interchangeable lens camera. It has 20.3 mp APS-C CMOS sensor, has a built-in SVGA EVF, Wi-Fi, Full-HD video and the ISO range is up to 12,800. The display is a tilt-and-swivel VGA 3" AMOLED (with PenTile).

Samsung announced two new cameras today, and both of them has the same display: 3" VGA AMOLED (with PenTile). The NX20 is Samsung's flagship interchangeable lens camera. It has 20.3 mp APS-C CMOS sensor, has a built-in SVGA EVF, Wi-Fi, Full-HD video and the ISO range is up to 12,800.

The second camera, the NX210 is a minor upgrade to the NX200: it adds Wi-Fi and a tweaked image sensor. Other features stay the same - a 20.3 mp sensor, Full-HD videos and the same AMOLED display.

Sony's TX200V waterproof and dustproof digital camera is now shipping for $499.99. The TX200V offers a 18cmp sensor, 5X optical zoom and a 3.3" touch AMOLED display. It has a clean glass-covered front design. The TX200V can capture Full-HD videos (and take 13mp stills while doing so) and has a built-in GPS.

eMagin reported their financial results for Q4 2011. Revenues were $8 million and net income was $1.2 million. In 2011 the company had generated revenues of $29.9 million (down from $30.5 million in 2010) and a net profit of $5 million. The company now has about $14.3 million in cash and investments.

An eMagin OLED microdisplay

eMagin also reported that they expect volume orders for their new digital VGA OLED microdisplay in the second half of 2012. They are developing a commercial display produce for the electronic viewfinder (EVF) market - and have already began to supply panels for a high end electronic viewfinder. eMagin also says they expect to receive funding from the US military to develop high-brightness color OLED displays that will not use color filters (which are used in eMagin's current microdisplays).

Sony's TX200V can now be pre-ordered for $499.99 over at Amazon. There's no official release date yet, but it should be in March. The TX200V is a waterproof and dustproof digital camera with a 18mp sensor, 5X optical zoom and a 3.3" touch AMOLED display. It has a clean glass-covered front design. The TX200V can capture Full-HD videos (and take 13mp stills while doing so) and has a built-in GPS.

Samsung's NX200 is now shipping in the US for $899 including a 18-55mm lens, 16GB SD card, camera bag, spare battery and a Red Giant Adorama productioon bundle.

The NX-200 is an APS-C (micro-four-thirds) mirrorless DSLR camera (the successor to the NX100). It sports a 20.3mp sensor, Full-HD videos, 0.1-second autofocus speed and a 3" VGA AMOLED display.

DisplaySearch estimates that AMOLED revenue in 2011 reached $3.36 billion on 90 million units. Revenue grew by 169% (from $1.25 in 2010) and unit shipments grew 97%. Revenue grew faster then units because the average smartphone display is getting larger. According to DisplaySearch, AMOLED share of the small/medium display market is now 12% (up 6% in 2010).

These numbers are actually lower than what DisplaySearch estimated back in August 2011. Back then they said unit shipments will be 128 million and revenue will reach $4 billion.

Sony's FDA-EV1S XGA (1024x768) OLED viewfinder is now shipping for $349. The viewfinder is an accessory for the NEX-5N mid-range mirrorless interchangeable-lens 16mp camera. The NEX-5N itself costs $599 (body only).

Update: it turns out that the ECX332A is the same microdisplay used in Sony's HMZ-T1 HMD...

Sony released a new OLED microdisplay today, the 0.7" ECX332A which offers 1280x720 (720p) resolution. This microdisplay is aimed towards electronic viewfinder (EVF) applications and offers 97% NSTC color gamut, 0.01ms response time and 200 cd/m2 brightness. The ECX332A employs the same white OLED and color-filters architecture as Sony's 0.5" XGA ECX331A (the one used in the A77 and A65 DSLRs and the NEX-7 and NEX-5N mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras).

Samsung launched three OLED products today, two of which are very exciting. The first is the Galaxy Tab 7.7, which has the world's largest mass-production OLED display at 7.7" (1280x800). It's a Super AMOLED Plus display. Other include Android v3.2, Dual-core 1.4Ghz processor, HSPA+ radio, 16GB to 64GB internal storage and a microSD slot, Wi-Fi, GPS and two cameras (3MP and 2MP).

The second exciting product is the Galaxy Note, a 5.3" Super AMOLED phone, offering the same resolution as the Tab - 1280x800. Samsung is using PenTile here. They are not using the Super AMOLED HD brand we thought they'd use, istead they simply call it a HD Super AMOLED display. It seems that Samsung will use Super AMOLED for PenTile displays and Super AMOLED Plus for non-pentile display, regardless of pixel density.