Do old CCD sensor cameras live up to the Hype?
There is growing interest today in older cameras that use CCD sensors. This interest stems from this sensors ability to capture film-like tones and colours. But is this just hype, or is there something in it?
The true answer is, it depends on who you talk to! Visit any camera club and the majority of photographers there, especially the older ones, will undoubtably have shot with CCD sensor cameras after all, CCD sensor technology has been mainstream since around 2000 to 2012 and indeed, you can still buy new cameras with CCD sensors, especially if you shoot astro. That aside, most of these photographers are probably all going to be very happy that they moved on to CMOS sensor cameras, not least because of the performance increases they now routinely see. This tends to mean that the subset of people shooting CCD is relatively small when compared to photography in general although if you are part of CCD photography group, you might think that everyone is shooting CCD as these groups can be quite large. For this tiny group of photographers, CCD is the best thing ever!
The first thing to say, and I think that this is fair, there are other sensor types that can produce great colour and tones. In fact, in the right hands, any modern digital camera, and I mean from 200o to today, can produce great colour and tones. For example, the Fujifilm X-trans sensor has been rattling cages since it was introduced back in 2012 along with the X-Pro-1. No one would doubt, or shouldn’t doubt that since then, the X-trans sensor has gone from strength to strength and in it’s latest form, the X-trans 5, we have a seriously capable sensor quite able to mimic many classic film stocks. Indeed, my old Fujifilm X-T1 still takes great photos today, well, on the odd occasion that I give it a run out.
Then of course we have the Live MOS sensors from a tie up between Leica, Panasonic and Olympus. These sensors, still available today, have a unique flavour of their own and indeed, in their earliest forms would be considered on-par with CCD sensor colour and tone. One of my favourites is the Lumix DMC-L1 from 2006, a robust but beautifully designed camera from a collaboration between Leica and Panasonic. It even carries the Lica L logo on the front although Leica supplied the optics in the form of the excellent Leica Elimart 14-50 f2.8-3.5 lens that was supplied as one of the kit options. This combination, still available to buy used today will likely set you back around £450 in good condition. Should you consider it today, hell yes, this is a great camera of it’s time and while the topic here is CCD, it’ll give early CCD models a run for their money! Here’s a sneak peak of what this camera can produce, even with a non-Leica lens.
Later cameras from Panasonic and Olympus that used a Live MOS sensor included the L10, G and GX series cameras, the Lf1, E3, E330, E-510 and many others. Personally I find it quite difficult to discern the difference between Live MOS and CCD images on well composed and lit images although the colours from the range of Kodak CCD sensors used on some of the better cameras do tend to pop. More on this later.
So, let’s talk about what makes CCD sensors special
Again, this is a topic that divides opinion. To some, CCD is nothing special, just a means to an end where the end is a world dominated by CMOS technology. Every major photographic company in the world today, bar Olympus and Panasonic, who still use Live MOS sensors, make cameras with CMOS sensors. Even then Live MOS is considered a play on words, a “marketing variation” of CMOS. Does that make CMOS better? Maybe. It certainly requires less power, offers better dynamic range and can deliver exceptionally crisp and colourful images. And of course, if you are interested in shooting 30 frames a second at 40MP resolution and at ISO’s over 3200 then probably yes, an old CCD camera, even the best of its time, simply can’t compete. However, remove those constraints and add in a mix of emotion, colour and film-like tones then suddenly, CCD and indeed, Live MOS sensor cameras spring back into contention.
Now at this point I suppose I should wade into what a Charge Couple Device (CCD) is and how it works. No need, you can visit this site and glean everything technical that you need to know about the history and design of CCD devices. That leaves us time now to talk about the non-technical aspects of CCD sensors, or more importantly, the cameras that use them and to wax lyrical about why they are so good even in 2024.
If you take a straw poll amongst those that regularly use CCD cameras, you will mostly hear the words colour and tone mentioned time and time again. Colour is by far the most sought after attribute for choosing and using CCD cameras. This of course, is a subjective metric and one persons enjoyment of a particular colour or range of colours as another persons nightmare. For example, I am particularly drawn to vibrant reds, orange-yellows and cyan blues. I detest insipid greens and washed out colours in general. Here’s an example of the colours I really like from film.
The problem is that these tones and colours are not easily achieved using digital technology, even CCD technology as film has remarkable characteristics especially in the way that tone changes dramatically as it disappears into the distance. An example of this is shown next. For this reason, it almost becomes impossible to burn out the highlights in film whereas in digital, it is an everyday occurrence. It is true that images created using CCD sensors better handle bright highlights but they can’t completely remove the problem.
Here’s another good example of how difficult it is to burn out film, even when shot into the sun. Try this with any modern camera, CCD or otherwise and while it is possible to expose for the highlights, the shadows will be practically black and a lot of detail would be lost. Notice also the lovely rich colours in all of the film images shown here. This is very typical of what CCD shooters are targeting, myself included, from their chosen cameras.
So, which CCD cameras get closest to the Holy Grail of Colour & Tone?
That’s not a question I can answer in all truth. My evidence is mostly anecdotal, taken from the various CCD camera groups that I am a member of and from those cameras that I have owned. Cameras that spring to mind from posts I have seen, and from cameras I have used include the Nikon D200, Minolta Konika 5D and 7D, Fujifilm S5 Pro, Olympus E1, E-300 and E-500, the Leica M8 and M9, and the Lumix LX1 through to the LX5. There are others of course, the Fujifilm S200EXR, the Canon S5 IS and one of my favourites, the Olympus C-765. You could also include the Olympus XZ-1 and XZ-2 in this line up. However, there is no doubt that when trying to match film to digital, sensor size as well as sensor quality plays a significant role and as such, the best contenders are likely to be OM 4rds, APS-C, Full Frame and Medium Format. And let’s not forget that unlike film, behind every sensor there is an engine processing and outputting the jpegs we fall in love with.
So, let’s now take a look at some of the images created by some of the cameras mentioned. This first image is out of the Olympus E-300, a CCD camera launched at the back end of 2004. This camera, like the later E-500 uses a Kodak KAF-8300CE Four Thirds System FFT-CCD sensor
This next image is from a Nikon D200 which uses a Sony CCD sensor.
