In praise of Bryce Bayer

Understanding why the Bayer colour filter array is such a clever design for image sensors

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Every so often there is a release of a new image sensor concept which does away with the ubiquitous Bayer colour filter array, accompanied by somewhat hyperbolic statements about the negative effects of the ubiquitous solution to colour imaging. These statements, it seems to me, are very often made without any appreciation of what a clever design the Bayer filter really is. Very often apparent simplicity conceals subtleties that are responsible for the performance of technology, and this is very much the case here.

Bryce Bayer was an American scientist who worked for the Kodak company. He developed the eponymous filter in 1974, long before there was a need for it. When solid-state imagers came along, and needed to be adapted to produce colour images, there was the Bayer filter ready and waiting. On a historical note, it’s ironic that the company that has come to dominate the market for the films used to make Bayer Colour Filter Arrays is Kodak’s great rival, Fujifilm.