Product category:
Capacitors
News Release from: Cap-XX
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 03 November 2006
Supercapacitors star in photo flash
survey
Study compares flash solutions for their ability to provide the light energy that camera phones of 2Mpixel or more need to take digital-still-camera-quality pictures in low light.
Cap-XX has published the results of a study comparing flash solutions - xenon, standard LEDs and high-current LEDs powered by a supercapacitor, or Cap-XX's LED BriteFlash - for their ability to provide the light energy that camera phones of 2Mpixel or more need to take digital-still-camera-quality pictures in low light Tests showed that the light energy from Cap-XX's LED BriteFlash exceeds most xenon flashes
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 Mar 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Supercapacitors put power into cameraphone flashes
A novel power architecture uses supercapacitors to provide LED flash camera phones with enough light to produce high-resolution images.
Supercapacitors boost cellphone audio
Handset power architecture uses supercapacitors to satisfy peak demands while playing music.
Additionally, a thin supercapacitor fits a slim handset more easily than the electrolytic storage capacitor required for xenon, and can offload demands from the battery and handle all mobile-phone functions that need peak power - wireless voice and data, GPS readings, digital video, music and TV - improving talk time, battery life and audio quality.
"Camera phones are improving with more megapixels and better lenses, image-processing software and anti-handshake features", explained Pierre Mars, Cap-XX Vice President of Applications Engineering.
"The area that lags behind is the power and energy of the flash for taking pictures in low light".
Further reading
Supercapacitors tolerate high temperatures
CAP-XX supercapacitors pack the highest energy and power densities into thin, lightweight, prismatic packages that will fit into slim portable devices.
Distribution facilities expanded
Sager Electronics, a privately held, employee-owned company, has added a California warehouse to its distribution capabilities.
The key to clear pictures is light energy - the total amount of light that fills a camera's pixels during image-capture time.
On the other hand, light power refers to the intensity of a flash.
Light energy is determined as the product of light power (in lux) multiplied by the flash duration (in seconds).
A light energy of 10-15 lux-s is ideal for high-resolution pictures.
Xenon flash has excellent light power, but a very short flash exposure time.
An LED flash, powered by a supercapacitor, delivers lower light power over a longer flash exposure time for total light energy that exceeds or equals most xenon flashes.
"We have seen images taken with well-known camera-phone models both with and without Cap-XX's supercapacitor-enabled LED flash and the differences are dramatic", said Tony Henning, Mobile Imaging Analyst, 6Sight Future of Imaging.
"Subjects up to 10ft from the camera are well-illuminated with the Cap-XX solution and all but pitch black without".
Cap-XX CEO Anthony Kongats said: "We are working with key mobile-phone manufacturers and expect the first designs that are power-boosted by our supercapacitors to hit the market late 2007 or 2008".
The study, which is published on the Cap-XX website, compares light power and energy, shutter requirements, ease of design-in, safety and size of both solutions.
• Cap-XX: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
