Laurie Wired wrote this :

A open secret is that all cameras are basically the same. Just look at the sensor.

Leica SL2-S ? IMX410
Sony a7 III? IMX410
Lumix S5II ? IMX410
BMCC6k ? IMX410

Same photosites…but they still manage different feels.

The processing pipeline is where it gets interesting.

Much of it comes down to company taste.

Sony produces the majority of sensors; ironically I think they do the worst job with the signal chain.

First, you start with the color correction matrix (CCM).

The catch is punchy colors start to mathematically multiply noise.

You end up with a non-linear distribution of noisy data. Tricky.

Thus begins the NR pipeline…and this is where I start to have a real problem with Sony.

They bake spatial NR directly into the RAW path.

It’s a sneaky trick to cheat on dynamic range benchmarks.

When you prefer a “Canon color” or “Sony color”, what you are technically valuing is whatever specific compromises were made in the processing pipeline.

I’ve just *barely* scratched the surface of this topic; haven’t even touched on codecs etc.

The point is it’s fascinating how much diversity is still there to be pushed when everyone is using…extremely similar engines.

Mark Shelley, an astrophotography enthusiast, has amazingly detailed reverse engineering writeups on his blog about various sensor issues.

Please check it out, it’s super cool:
https://markshelley.co.uk

The most comprehensive paper I’ve seen on the overall subject of sensor noise is from MDPI, “The Geometry of Noise in Color and Spectral Image Sensors”

Check it out here:
https://mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/1