The Magical Qualities Of CCD Cameras
Short for charged coupled device, the CCD sensor was the life force of earlier digital camera technology before being replaced by the CMOS sensor which requires less power to operate and is a lot cheaper to manufacture.
In recent years these older CCD cameras have garnered a cult like following as camera enthusiasts and professional photographers alike begin to re-discover the ‘magical’ qualities of the images these sensors produce.
There’s a lively debate across the internet as to whether the CCD sensor really holds any aesthetic edge over CMOS. Personally I enjoy using these older cameras and I do think the images contain a distinctive quality which is sometimes hard to put into words – but I’ll do my best.
Color rendition
The story goes that CCD sensors contain a thicker colour filter array than the newer CMOS sensors which results in colours that are both richer, denser and more subtractively saturated. After shooting with a CCD camera for some time (Nikon D200) I’m always in awe with the way the colours look straight out of camera. There’s a pastel quality to the way the primary colours render that isn’t quite true to life but that’s part of the charm.
These sensors were the first iterations of what would become an incredibly saturated marketplace of digital cameras. At the time, these major camera manufacturers only had one benchmark for what constituted as “correct” colour reproduction which was celluloid film, so it’s no coincidence that the the images these CCD sensors render take on a filmic profile.
Contrast
This theme stays consistent in the way these sensors handle contrast. There’s an almost seamless transition between the darkest blacks and the lightest whites, a pure sort of tonality that ends with a milky roll off in the highlights. Maybe I’m romanticising this too much but you get my point – the contrast curve is beautiful and the Optical Low Pass Filter that sits on top of the sensor, which are now almost certainly a thing of past, produce a softening effect that takes off that digital edge, smooths out skin tones and also executes it’s primary function in limiting aliasing artefacts.
Noise
Of course I can only speak with regards to the select few CCD cameras that I’ve used but I’ve always been incredibly impressed with the way these sensors handle noise. Above certain ISOs it beomces pronounced but not in a destructive way. My biggest gripe about modern CMOS sensors is a noise pattern that becomes blotchy in areas of high density, a cartoon like effect that muddies the image. CCD files may have even more noise than more modern cameras but it presents itself in a way that texturally enhances the image.
And the by-product of these culminating factors is an image that is uniquely beautiful but by no means technically perfect. In fact, in technical terms, almost every type of CCD sensor is out performed by their CMOS counterparts when it comes to sharpness, noise, colour accuracy and processing power.
On paper those CMOS sensors look far superior and yet in real terms this clinical perfection begins to take away from the impact of the image. We forget that photography, at its core, is the act of documenting the human experience, a reality that’s built far more off of subjective feelings as opposed to objective certainties.
I once heard someone say that digital photography captures a moment, whereas film photographer captures a feeling. I think this is also quite fitting for the CCD vs CMOS debate. CMOS cameras, by default, capture an objective representation of how something looked, whereas the CCD sensor captures more about how it felt to be there in that moment.
Of course we are sentimental beings with a keen tendency to idolise things of the past. Whichever camp you’re in I think we can all agree that it’s not about the camera you use so long as you enjoy taking photos.
I’d love to know your thoughts!
