CMOS: The Simple $340 Sensor That Beat a $4,200 Camera
CMOS: The Simple $340 Sensor That Beat a $4,200 Camera I walked into a surplus dealer on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit last March looking for a replacement power supply. I left with a $340 CMOS image sensor module in a crushed cardboard box and a stubborn belief that I'd just wasted my afternoon. The guy behind the counter — name was Darryl, wore a Lions jacket even though it was sixty degrees — told me the chip had come out of a decommissioned pharmaceutical inspection line. "CCD guys hate these," he said. "That's how you know it works." I didn't…
