Kodak Sets Sights on Flashless Future

New low-light sensor could snap flagging company out of slump
Posted Jun 14, 2007 3:55 PM CDT
Kodak Sets Sights on Flashless Future
In this undated photo released by Eastman Kodak Company is an unidentified Kodak technician showing image sensors embedded on a silicon wafer at Eastman Kodak Inc., in Rochester, N.Y. Kodak is announcing new sensor technology that will provide an increase in the sensitivity to light. (AP Photo/Eastman...   (Associated Press)

Kodak showed off a new technology today that enables digital cameras to capture clearer pictures in low light—without a flash. Kodak revealed the innovation just as the enduring photography company finishes up its long and costly transformation to digital and begins to tap into its valuable portfolio of patents.

The new image sensors work by adding "clear" pixels to the conventional red, blue, and green ones, helping them soak up more light which then converts into an electric charge. The mechanism could be ready to sample in 2008, and is part of arsenal of patents from which Kodak could squeeze $250M by the end of this year. "Our strategy is to get it out of the lab and onto the street," said a general manager. (More Kodak stories.)

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