A color filter array (CFA) and image processing system wherein a color filter overlaying an image sensor has a luminance element (i.e. green filter in RGB space, or yellow in CMY space) that is made larger than the other two chrominance elements (i.e. red, blue or cyan, magenta). Additionally, overlaying micro-lenses may be sized to correspond to the relative sizes of the underlying color filters. The optimized filter array is compatible with existing de-mosaic image processing.