Charge Coupled Device (CCD) – either assembled as a linear or two-dimensional array of light sensitive elements. Light is converted to an electrical charge proportional to the brightness impinging on each cell. The cells are coupled to a scanning system which, after analogue to digital conversion, presents the image as a series of binary digits.

Early CCD arrays were unable to work over a wide range of brightness but they now offer low noise, high resolution imaging up to HDTV level and for digital cinematography.