Adimec publishes a nice demo of smear in CCDs and virtual absence of it in CMOS sensors. The smear manifests itself in:
- Contrast reduction of the image
- Questionable patterns depending on image contents
- Higher noise level in the dark areas of the image
- The three effects above combined: degradation of DRI (detection, recognition, identification)
- For color: a shift of white balance, depending on the smear level