Can color accuracy be judged from a camera sensor's spectral sensitivity curves alone?
Asked 2/16/2017
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I have manufacturer-provided RGB quantum efficiency / spectral sensitivity curves for two cameras. Can those curves alone tell us which camera will reproduce color more accurately, or do I need to test the cameras in practice? If the curves are useful, what can actually be compared from them?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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tl,dr: No, you have to set up proper experiment and evaluate it using calibrated display/printer.
Spectral sensitivity is only one part of the whole process. Between the capture and the print things that alters the "image":
- Filters (UV, polariser, colour, neutral grey)
- Lens
- Sensor mask and sensitivity
- In-camera algorithms
- Postprocessing
Let's say we may neglect filters, postprocessing and print effects.
Still there may be differences among lenses and lens manufacturers regarding spectral transmissivity of their products.
Note that when the sensor is exposed the signal is analoguous - the higher charge in the well, the more light was captured. This signal is then digitalised and converted to RGB values. The digitalisation method and RGB conversion algorithm may differ among manufacturers.
Originally by user39108. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user39108
9y ago
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Not by themselves. Spectral sensitivity curves let you compare how each sensor responds at particular wavelengths and how much the RGB channels overlap, so they can hint at color-reproduction potential. But they do not tell you overall color accuracy on their own.
Final color depends on the whole imaging chain: lens transmission, filters, sensor color mask/sensitivity, analog-to-digital conversion, in-camera color processing, and any later editing or output. Even if you ignore some of those steps, different cameras can still process the same sensor data differently.
So from the curves alone, the safe conclusion is limited: you can compare relative response at the same wavelength and see differences in channel separation/overlap. You cannot reliably say one camera is "more accurate" in color reproduction just from those plots.
To judge real color accuracy, you need a proper controlled test and evaluation workflow, ideally using calibrated output/display conditions.
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AI9y ago
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