More Info on Sony's APCS Sensor

SLR Lounge has some additional information on Sony's new APCS sensor, including diagrams. 

Based on the diagrams, it appears that the APCS design uses a movable Bayer filter.  There are some obvious questions raised if the design does indeed use a movable filter.

This introduces another moving part that can break or wear out.  It is basically a second shutter.  On that has to move every time the camera takes a picture.  Increasing the moving parts involved in an electronic device also increases the chances that something will go wrong with that device.

This problem is magnified when long exposure times are factored into the equation.  Presumably, the only way to prevent color artifacts during long exposures would be to have the filter repeatedly reposition itself.  Possibly hundreds of times during a single exposure.  This would vastly increase the odds of the part failing.


Using moving parts inside a camera introduces another potential issue.  Movement while taking pictures results in blurred images.  The filter will need to be engineered in such a way so that movement in the filter is does not result in movement in any other part of the camera.  Otherwise the filter could result in "camera shake" even when a tripod is used.


None of these issues are obvious given the original, sketchy description of the technology involved.  They become far more obvious after seeing the diagrams.