Adaptive Highlight Compression in Today's CCD Cameras

H. Blom, F. J. van Roessel, J. van Rooy, P. van Brouwer

The nonlinear characteristic of the display and the well-known gamma of the video camera produce a near linear-system transfer characteristic, sharply limited at the upper end due to the requirements of subsequent processing. This system cannot deal with a large dynamic range, however. The need for a film look, in the video camera's picture rendition stems from the inception of film production with television cameras. To obtain this film look, a suitable transfer characteristic of the video camera is essential. With the development of modern CCD cameras and their increased dynamic range, it is possible to attain a film look in the television picture. The adaptive variable knee proposal discussed in this article is the result of an extensive study on how to make the best use of the increased dynamic range of current CCD sensors.

Print ISSN
Published
1992-03
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J02321