Canon showcases astonishing 250MP LI8020SA APS-H sensor

Canon’s reputation for pushing camera sensor tech to the limits is consolidated with the trade show debut of the 250 megapixel LI8020SA.

While you’re not going to find it in a consumer camera any time soon, Canon was showing its incredible 250MP LI8020SA sensor inside a box camera prototype at a trade show in China last week.

The sensor was first talked about by the company in 2015, and while it moved off the drawing board and was demoed in the real world circa 2020, this looks to be the first time it has come close to being productised.

It will be available in both RGB and monochrome versions, and uses the unusual APS-H sensor size of 27.9 x 18.6 mm. This positions it somewhere between APS-C and full frame 35 mm, and in that size it crams in an impressive 19,568 by 12,588 effective pixels.

It was on show at the China International Public Security Products Expo, which gives you a clue as to where it is targeted. “[It] can be applied to high-precision flat panel display inspection, industrial use inspection and large-scale monitoring,” wrote Canon in a PR about the event.

You can have a look at its capabilities below. And when you see the resolution it is capable of, taking an impressively small segment of an image and displaying it at Full HD,  it is easy to imagine a few other uses for it than just security cameras. At full resolution it only supports frame rates up to 5 fps, but speeds up when smaller areas are selected.

But, while the LI8020SA might not be destined for consumer use, the history of Canon’s sensor tech tells us that even its most esoteric developments often end up feeding innovation into the mass market somewhere along the line.

tl;dr

• Canon has showcased a 250-megapixel sensor, marking a step closer to potential productisation after an initial announcement  in 2015
•  The sensor is available in RGB and monochrome formats, featuring an APS-H size of 27.9 x 18.6 mm, with a resolution of 19,568 by 12,588 effective pixels.
• Targeted primarily for industrial applications like flat panel display inspection and large-scale monitoring
• While it supports only 5 fps at full resolution, it can achieve higher speeds with smaller image areas.