It's easy to take for granted the fact that our camera sensors somehow translate light into digital data that is eventually reconstructed as a viewable image on our monitors when we return to our studios. However, there's some very deep and impressive science behind this feat, and this neat video will introduce you to how it all works.
Coming to you from Filmmaker IQ, this fun video will introduce you to the basics of how film and CCD and CMOS digital sensors work. At its foundational level, a digital sensor relies on the Photovoltaic effect, first observed by French Physicist A. E. Becquerel in 1839. The effect describes how electrons are forced into a higher-energy state by incoming photons striking a material. This effect can be leveraged in that the corresponding electrical signals can then be read out and translated to luminosity levels at the pixel site, which are then stored in the camera's memory as the image file. The Photovoltaic effect is also the same thing that makes solar cells possible. If you've ever wondered about how the sensor in your camera actually turns light into an image, this is a great introduction to the scientific process behind it all.
Nice video!