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Typical
sensor size of 3, 4, and 5 megapixel digital compact
cameras
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Typical
sensor size of 6 megapixel digital SLRs
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This
diagram shows the typical sensor
sizes compared to 35mm film. The sensor sizes of digital SLRs are
typically 40% to 100% of the surface of 35mm film. Digital compact
cameras have substantially smaller sensors offering a similar
number of pixels.
As a consequence, the pixels are much smaller, which is a key
reason for the image quality difference, especially in terms of noise
and dynamic
range.
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Sensor
Type Designation
Sensors are often
referred to with a "type" designation using imperial
fractions such as 1/1.8" or 2/3" which are larger than
the actual sensor diameters. The type designation harks back to
a set of standard sizes given to TV camera tubes in the 50's.
These sizes were typically 1/2", 2/3" etc. The size
designation does not define the diagonal of the sensor area but
rather the outer diameter of the long glass envelope of the
tube. Engineers soon discovered that for various reasons the
usable area of this imaging plane was approximately two thirds
of the designated size. This designation has clearly stuck
(although it should have been thrown out long ago). There
appears to be no specific mathematical relationship between the
diameter of the imaging circle and the sensor size, although it
is always roughly two thirds.
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Common Image
Sensor Sizes
In
the table below "Type" refers to the commonly used type
designation for sensors, "Aspect
Ratio" refers to the ratio of width to height, "Dia."
refers to the diameter of the tube size (this is simply the Type
converted to millimeters), "Diagonal / Width / Height"
are the dimensions of the sensors image producing area.
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Sensor
(mm) |
| Type |
Aspect
Ratio |
Dia.
(mm) |
Diagonal |
Width |
Height |
| 1/3.6" |
4:3 |
7.056 |
5.000 |
4.000 |
3.000 |
| 1/3.2" |
4:3 |
7.938 |
5.680 |
4.536 |
3.416 |
| 1/3" |
4:3 |
8.467 |
6.000 |
4.800 |
3.600 |
| 1/2.7" |
4:3 |
9.407 |
6.721 |
5.371 |
4.035 |
| 1/2.5" |
4:3 |
10.160 |
7.182 |
5.760 |
4.290 |
| 1/2" |
4:3 |
12.700 |
8.000 |
6.400 |
4.800 |
| 1/1.8" |
4:3 |
14.111 |
8.933 |
7.176 |
5.319 |
| 2/3" |
4:3 |
16.933 |
11.000 |
8.800 |
6.600 |
| 1" |
4:3 |
25.400 |
16.000 |
12.800 |
9.600 |
| 4/3" |
4:3 |
33.867 |
22.500 |
18.000 |
13.500 |
| 35
mm film |
3:2 |
n/a |
43.300 |
36.000 |
24.000 |
Implementation
Examples
Below is a list
of a few digital cameras (as examples) and their sensor size.
| Camera |
Sensor
Type |
Pixel
count |
Sensor
size |
| Konika
Minolta DiMAGE Xg |
1/2.7"
CCD |
3.3
million |
5.3
x 4.0 mm |
| PowerShot
S500 |
1/1.8"
CCD |
5.0
million |
7.2
x 5.3 mm |
| Nikon
Coolpix 8700 |
2/3"
CCD |
8.0
million |
8.8
x 6.6 mm |
| Olympus
C-8080 Wide Zoom |
2/3"
CCD |
8.0
million |
8.8
x 6.6 mm |
| Sony
DSC-828 |
2/3"
CCD |
8.0
million |
8.8
x 6.6 mm |
| Konica
Minolta Dimage A2 |
2/3"
CCD |
8.0
million |
8.8
x 6.6 mm |
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| Nikon
D70 |
CCD |
6.1
million |
23.7
x 15.6 mm |
| Canon
EOS-1Ds |
CMOS |
11.4
million |
36
x 24 mm |
| Kodak
DSC-14n |
CMOS |
13.8
million |
36
x 24 mm |
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| See also Sensors,
Effective
Pixels, Pixels,
and Pixel
Quality
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