Posted in: Digital cameras

Canon has developed a brand new 35 mm full-frame high sensitivity CMOS sensor, which they first announced back in March. The new sensor allows cameras to shoot in extremely low light situations where you’d have a hard time seeing even with your naked eye.

To show off the capabilities of this new sensor, Canon shot a video of Yaeyama-hime fireflies at night in near total darkness. The ambient light that you see in the video below is less than 0.01 lux, which is practically pitch dark to human eye.

Even in these extreme conditions, the sensor not just captured the fireflies, which typically measure a few millimeters in size, but also detail in the surroundings.

We talk about advancements in low light photography on mobile cameras. But then you see something like this and realize just how far mobile cameras still are behind full size cameras when it comes to shooting in low light conditions. Perhaps someday we will be able to shoot incredible footage like this through a mobile phone. Until then, watch the video below and stare in wonder at what this new sensor can do.

Source