Courtesy of  e-Digital Photo magazine
September/October 2004 issue, Page 26

Details in dark areas of pictures pose a problem for digital cameras with weak dynamic range, a plague diagnosed by an inability to provide substance to shadowy areas. One technique for overcoming this drawback is the new SuperCCD SR developed by Fujifilm.

The technique is actually 2-fold.

First, the (Fuji) SuperCCD SR maximizes the number of image-capturing pixels by arranging them in a honeycomb pattern, rather than the rectangular shape used in most cameras. Secondly, each pixel is actually composed of two photo diodes: an R-pixel and a slightly larger S-pixel, which has a higher sensitivity to light. The images from both are combined to produce a picture with greater details in the dark areas, an effect maximized by the larger number of pixels being employed.

The SuperCCD SR is thus far available only on the Fujifilm’s advanced cameras, such as the FinePix S2, S3, S5200 and S9000, but will likely appear in less expensive models in the future.