Even before the official announcement, I reported that the sensor inside the Nikon D850 was not made by Sony (FYI: the D850 is 45.7MP, while the latest Sony a7R III is 42.4MP). A recent teardown did now provide any additional information on the sensor manufacturer:
There have been some rumors floating online from questionable sources that the Nikon D850 sensor is made by the Israeli company TowerJazz which is also known as the sensor supplier for some Leica cameras. I have not seen any evidence to prove that claim.
Panasonic used to be a major investor in TowerJazz.
Update #1: the Nikon D850 sensor being made by TowerJazz was first reported by a reader here on [NR]:
Update #2: maxmax.com also reports that the Nikon D850 sensor is made by TowerJass (now Tower Semiconductor):
“The D850 contains a Nikon specified, Sony designed TowerJass manufactured Back Side Illuminated (BSI) sensor.”
During their recent Q3 financial results conference call a few days ago, the CEO of TowerJazz said this:
In the CMOS image sensor market we are investing today in technology for three main directions; next-generation global shutter technology for the industrial sensor market; Backside Illumination and stack wafers for the high-end photography market; and special pixel technology for the automotive market.
In the digital SLR market we engage with one of the leaders in the world in the development of their next-generation sensors. And in parallel on track with our 300 millimeter Backside Illumination stack wafer technology development with outstanding pixel performance.
This might be the first indication that Nikon could really be working together with TowerJazz, unless they were talking about Ricoh (Pentax) when they made that statement (Canon makes their own sensors and there are no other DSLR manufacturers today).
Here is the full conference call:
Related posts:
Panasonic to dismantle their digital camera business, unload shares of TowerJazz
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