Samsung Electronics have announced two new laptop webcam CMOS sensors, the S5K6A1 and S5K5B3, which the company reckons are good enough to grab real-time HD video at 30fps. Intended for video conferencing and recording, the 1.3-megapixel S5K6A1 and 2.1-megapixel S5K5B3 chips also support a high-speed VGA mode for low-bandwidth connections.
Meanwhile they’re also smaller and have better low-light performance. The 2.1-megapixel CMOS captures full 1080p HD at 30fps with a component height of less than 4.5mm, while the 1.3-megapixel CMOS grabs 720p HD at 30fps capability and is less than 3.5mm high.
The S5K5B3 also packs an embedded solid state auto focus enhanced depth of field (EDoF) function, which allows it to also shoot business cards held up close to the lens for optical character recognition. Samsung is sampling the new cameras now, and expects them to hit mass production in the second half of 2010.