The revolutionary high resolution of the SX50 and SX60 Power Projector is made possible by AISYS, a new optical system. What is AISYS all about? To start my investigation of this technology, I spoke with Ryuji Suzuki, who oversees development of the mechanical aspects of the SX50 and 60. Mr. Suzuki also coordinated the overall development project.
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-- How does AISYS do what it does? What are its outstanding features? Suzuki You get right to the point, don't you? AISYS stands for aspectual illumination system, a proprietary Canon optical system. But before I describe it, I'd like to remind you that LCD projectors essentially create images through either transmissive or reflective liquid crystal panels. Do you know how these work?
 AISYS optical system boosts clarify and brightness
-- Yes. I did my homework before our talk today, doing some research online and so on. With transmissive panels, light shines through the back before being projected onto the screen. Something like slide projectors. And with reflective panels, light that's reflected from the surface is projected-similar to the technique used in old-fashioned overhead projectors. Suzuki That's right. (But I wonder if any of our readers will remember the old projectors.) LCD panels are lined with rows and rows of elements, which are driven by circuits. The circuits lie between the elements on transmissive panels, but this produces a grid-like pattern on the screen after light passes through.-- We notice the effect if we approach the screen. It's like the shadow of a barbecue grill, and it gives images a certain rough look. Suzuki That's the biggest problem affecting picture quality. But with reflective LCD panels, the drive circuits are behind the LCD elements, so they don't show up in projected images. This gives us a smooth, seamless picture.
More Beautiful: LCOS reflective LCD panels produce seamless images
"Taking advantage of LCOS requires optimizing all optical systems: the illumination optical system, the color separation and recombination system and the projection lens." (Suzuki)
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-- I see. So once you incorporated reflective LCD panels, you had a projector that produces outstanding images Suzuki Unfortunately, it wasn't quite that simple. The SX50 and 60 feature LCOS panels (short for liquid-crystal-on-silicon). These are special types of reflective LCD panels that provide high contrast and excellent gradation. But deploying LCOS panels makes it much harder to maintain a compact body size while maintaining ample contrast and brightness.-- Can you elaborate? Suzuki I'll explain it further in a little while, but for now, let me just say that taking advantage of LCOS requires optimizing all optical systems: the illumination optical system that produces light, the color separation and recombination system that combines color images from RGB panels, and the projection lens that fills the screen with images.
-- I see. So the key is AISYS-the newly developed optical system.
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