To see something clearly, sometimes you need to change your perspective. Think out of the box. Turn the problem on its side. When you start to look at things differently, you sometimes start noticing things you couldn't see before.

A lot of times, the real challenge is figuring out just how to get that different perspective. It might be as simple as taking a walk and coming back to the problem when your mind is clear. But often, the best thing to do is to step back, look more broadly, and try to get a "big picture" view of the problem.

Satellites in orbit around the Earth do this all the time - they "step back" by hundreds of miles to provide a unique perspective on our planet. Today, a number of different commercial satellites are in operation around the Earth, each providing information used in applications as diverse as urban planning, mapping for natural resources, or evacuation planning and disaster response.

And that doesn't even count the really cool pictures you can call up on your computer in Google Maps - that really provides a different perspective on things.

Earlier this month, the latest of these commercial satellites - DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 - was successfully launched into Earth orbit. The capabilities of this satellite are pretty spectacular - from 770 km (about 500 miles) above the earth, it can capture images with a resolution of up to 50 cm (about 1.5 feet) over an area almost 1 million square km each day (which is a pretty big number, given that the entire surface of the earth is only around 150 million square km). Its orbit will also allow the satellite to revisit any location on the Earth's surface typically in just over 1 day, allowing for quick, high resolution updates of rapidly changing conditions on the surface.

As you might imagine, the entire process to design and launch a satellite is pretty complicated, involving sub-contractors who each specialize on different parts of the entire project. For the imaging system on WorldView-2 - the "eyes" of the entire satellite - DigitalGlobe worked with the Space Systems Division of ITT Corporation, who designed and built this key component. And when ITT needed custom CCD image sensors for this new imaging system, they came to Kodak.

This isn't the first time Kodak has worked with ITT to design and manufacture CCD image sensors for a commercial imaging satellite - we also worked with ITT on the sensors used in DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1 and QuickBird satellites, as well as the IKONOS and GeoEye-1 satellites. But the CCD image sensors used in WorldView-2 give this satellite a unique set of imaging capabilities.

"Normal" color image sensors (like the one used in your digital camera, or in your phone) typically capture images in three different color ranges - red, green, and blue - and then use software to combine them into a single full color image. (Actually, this is very similar to how cone cells work in the retina of the eye.) The CCD image sensors in WorldView-2, however are different - instead of using three colors, they actually capture images across eight different wavelength regions, extending from the visible out into the IR. This extra color information can then be used to more accurately analyze vegetation on the ground, or generate more accurate "true-color" images from the satellite. In fact, this capability makes WorldView-2 unique, as it is the only commercial satellite that provides high resolution images across 8 different wavelength bands.

Less than two weeks after its launch, the first images from WorldView-2 have already been published by DigitalGlobe, as the satellite works through a 90-day initial calibration and check-out period. (If you're interested, you can even watch a replay of the satellite's launch.) After that, WorldView-2 should be fully on-line, providing new views of our planet from its orbit 500 miles above the Earth.

Not a bad place to gain some perspective.

When I came to work at Kodak Park twenty years ago, I was amazed at the wide variety of work that Kodak employees performed at the site.  There were carpenters who made lab cabinets, machinists that would make parts out of metal or plastic, engineers of all varieties, an elevator maintenance crew, security staff, skilled-trades workers of all types, and many very specialized occupations.  Kodak people could do just about anything including repairing equipment, fabricating parts, designing machines, and constructing buildings.  We were so vertically integrated I was a bit surprised Kodak did not own a silver mine!

With the change in the market for film, costs needed to be reduced to keep the company viable.  Over the years many of these specialized and site services have been transitioned to a wide variety of suppliers.  While this practice has played a part in the well publicized reduction in the number of Kodak employees, what is often missed is the number of functions performed at Kodak sites by our suppliers.  Many of our supplier's employees are former Kodakers whose knowledge and dedication is still vital to Kodak's success.  Although the jobs are no longer on Kodak's payroll, Kodak's suppliers have created and maintained thousands of jobs in Monroe County.  Here is a sampling of suppliers that support our Rochester sites and Kodak's future success!

www.eastmanbusinesspark.com

When two great people team up, the results can be spectacular.  Fred and Ginger.  Abbott and Costello.  Batman and Robin. 

Or Kodak and Leica.  Over the past several years, Leica has used KODAK CCD Image Sensors in their most advanced digital products - most recently, the LEICA M8 (which brought the legendary Rangefinder family into the digital age) and the new LEICA S2.  World-class products from Leica, all powered by world-class CCD Image Sensors from Kodak.  

And now, there's one more.

Today, Leica unveiled their latest Rangefinder camera - the new Leica M9.  (The M9 on 09/09/09 - get it?)  And just like the M8 camera before it, the M9 is based on a CCD Image Sensor from Kodak - this time, the new KODAK KAF-18500 Image Sensor. 

While the KAF-18500 includes a number of key improvements over the sensor used in the M8 (such as a new red color pigment and new IR-absorbing cover glass to improve color fidelity and overall image quality), one of the big changes in the new sensor is that, well, it's big - as big as a 35mm frame of film.  In fact, it's almost twice the area of the sensor used in the M8 camera.  That means that the new camera can make full use of R-series lenses (which were originally designed for use with 35mm film).

At first, making a "full frame" sensor might not sound like a big deal - Kodak already manufactures several image sensors that are 35mm format or larger (the 50-megapixel KODAK KAF-50100 Image Sensor, for example, is almost twice the size of 35mm film).  But because of the way M-series cameras and lenses are designed, making a 35mm format sensor for the M9 is a little more complicated that you might think. 

One of the hallmarks of Leica's M-series of cameras is that they are very compact, making them comfortable and convenient to handle.  But to be this compact, the camera's lens needs to be very close to the surface of the sensor - a lot closer than it would be in a standard DSLR camera.  And because the lens is so close, light coming out of the lens ends up striking the edge of the sensor at a pretty sharp angle. 

Now for a film camera this isn't a big deal, because film is really good at detecting light that comes in from almost any angle.  But image sensors tend to work best when light comes in "straight" (at a 90 degree angle to the surface of the sensor), so if you're not careful about the overall design, the performance of the camera can degrade around the edges of the sensor if these angles are too steep.  You can correct for some of this with software, but the problem just gets worse as the lens gets closer to the sensor - or as the sensor gets bigger and bigger.  And it's a problem you just can't have if your camera is going to be a Leica.

Since the sensor in the M9 is about twice the area of the one used in the M8, we had to make sure that this larger sensor would work properly with M-series lenses (where the lens is really close to the surface of the sensor).  That meant redesigning both the actual pixel as well as the microlenses used in the KAF-18500 - all without impacting the performance that customers have come to expect when working with an M-series camera.  A tall order, but one that needed to be done - and done properly - in order to help bring M-series photography to a new level.

Left to Right:  KODAK KAF-10500 (in Leica M8), KAF-18500 (in Leica M9), and KAF-37500 (in Leica S2) Image Sensors

In the end, we solved this by using the most powerful resource we have - really smart people who know a lot about image sensor design.  The result is a sensor that really helps Leica's new camera shine - all the way out to the last pixel. 

We're pretty excited to be working again with Leica on the M9 camera - a product that Leica customers have looked forward to with great expectation.  And I can't wait to see the images that photographers will be able to capture using this latest world-class camera from Leica. 

Especially since they will be taken using world-class CCD image sensors from Kodak.