Epson Toyocom Corporation today announced the commercial development of a new optical low pass filter (OLPF) for digital cameras. This OLPF features a new structure that enables the uniform separation of light rays across the visible spectrum. Digital camera pixel counts continue to climb, and market demands for higher image quality are on the rise. An optical low pass filter is often provided on digital cameras to combat moiré patterns. Conventional OLPFs employ a construction containing three quartz plates. The three-quartz plate system, however, does not provide uniform light separation characteristics at certain wavelengths, and thus not all moiré patterns are eliminated.
Epson Toyocom’s latest OLPF employs a new structure wherein a wide-band phase retardation film is sandwiched between a pair of quartz plates. This design provides uniform light separation at all wavelengths of visible light and is thus able to eliminate moiré patterns across the visible spectrum. The new OLPF from Epson Toyocom is also thinner and lighter than the conventional structure because it requires only two quartz plates.
The new OLPF from Epson Toyocom will further boost the image quality of digital cameras and enable them to be made thinner. The lighter weight of the new design also makes this OLPF ideal for CCD-shift camera-shake correction mechanisms and for functions designed to physically vibrate dust off the filter.
