Bayer pattern

Bayer pattern

A very common filter pattern used for the matrix of CCD or CMOS sensors in a digital camera. More pixels are dedicated to green than to red and blue, because the human eye is more sensitive to green. When only one array of sensors is used, the additional green pixels produce a better color image. In a three-chip digital camera, the image is sent to three separate sensors, one each for red, green and blue. Bryce Bayer invented the pattern at Kodak.

Bayer Interpolation
When the camera converts its sensor data into a color image format such as JPEG, the uneven distribution of sensor colors has to be converted (interpolated) into an even number of red, green and blue subpixels. This conversion can cause artifacts especially at the edges of objects in the scene. See purple fringing, CCD sensor, CMOS sensor, RAW image format, digital camera and X3.

Bayer Filter Pattern
Although there are different photosensor patterns in use, they generally all have more green sensors than red and blue.