In continues to our previews article about the technological achievements of ON Semiconductor and Avid, we’re delighted to report that Kodak has also won the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in the category of Invention and Pioneering Development of Intra-Pixel Charge Transfer CMOS Image Sensors, and allowing TV video cameras to be more compact, more reliable, and less expensive.

Kodak and Image sensors: An old love story

Kodak is well familiar with its film-stocks that continue to be utilized on high-end productions by acclaimed directors who insist on shooting on film. However, Kodak was a big name and market leader, in the sensor world as well. In fact, Kodak was the world leader in image sensor design and development for more than 25 years, specializing in CCD and CMOS. Nevertheless, due to the reduction of film-stock usage, the company faced some valid financial challenges.

As a result, in 2012, Kodak’s Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) division was sold to Truesense Imaging Inc. Some reports claimed that Kodak has sold more than 1000 patents related to its sensor technology that were accumulated over 30 years. In 2014, Truesense Imaging was acquired by ON Semiconductor. So who knows… there’s a possibility that some of Kodak’s patents are implemented on the ARRI ALEXA ALEV III sensor. Anyway, it seems that Kodak’s sensor technology has just won an Emmy.

Kodak wins the 72nd Technology & Engineering Emmy Award

The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards are awarded to a living individual, a company, or a scientific or technical organization for developments and/or standardization involved in engineering technologies that either represent so extensive an improvement on existing methods or are so innovative in nature that they materially have affected television. As for the 72nd prizes, Kodak wins the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for the development of CMOS image sensors, in the category of Invention and Pioneering Development of Intra-Pixel Charge Transfer CMOS Image Sensors. The Emmy awarded to Kodak honors the company’s excellence in engineering creativity for the pioneering development of intra-pixel charge transfer CMOS image sensors which allowed TV video cameras to be more compact, more reliable, and less expensive. According to Kodak, the size, power use, and efficiency of the CMOS system were significant factors in the development of today’s HD video.

The Emmy awarded to Kodak honors the company’s excellence in engineering creativity for the pioneering development of intra-pixel charge transfer CMOS image sensors which allowed TV video cameras to be more compact, more reliable, and less expensive.

Kodak

Summary

The award is quite surprising since Kodak has not vastly operated in developing and manufacturing sensors. However, it’s nice to reveal that Kodak left a significant technology mark regarding CMOS sensors that affects today’s solutions and elevates productions’ efficiency regarding TV video cameras.