Bayerfiltered

Bayerfiltered refers to images captured with a Bayer color filter array (CFA), the most widely used color filter in digital imaging sensors. Named after Bryce E. Bayer, the pattern enables single-sensor cameras to record color by sampling different colors at different pixels.

The standard Bayer mosaic is a 2x2 tile with red, green, green, blue (RGGB). Green pixels are twice as common to mimic human luminance sensitivity. Each pixel measures one color component; color at each pixel is obtained by demosaicing, an interpolation process that reconstructs full RGB values for every pixel.

Sensors can be configured in different orderings, such as BGGR, GRBG, or GBRG, depending on manufacturing. The Bayer approach contrasts with other color filter arrays and with methods that capture color using separate sensors or full spectral sampling, such as Foveon-like designs.

Advantages include low cost, high light sensitivity, and compatibility with existing image-processing pipelines. Disadvantages involve demosaicing artifacts, color aliasing, and reduced effective resolution for color channels. Advances in demosaicing algorithms, noise reduction, and sensor micro-structure have mitigated many issues.

In practice, Bayer-filtered images dominate consumer photography, with applications in smartphones, digital cameras, and scanners. Some sensors implement variants like Quad Bayer, grouping four adjacent pixels to improve low-light performance or color resolution under certain conditions.