Saturday, February 11, 2006
All About Sensor Sizes
Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 12:00 PM
"Digital SLRs take advantage of using sensors about 16 x 24 mm, close to the original standard 35mm (movie) film standard of 18 x 24 mm introduced over 100 years ago and still in daily use for multi-million dollar Hollywood movies and TV. When minature still cameras were designed to use 35mm movie film in the 1920s they were called "double frame" and shot a double wide frame of 36 x 24 mm. This remains the size of today's 35mm film (still) cameras which are fast becoming obsolete. Some old timers think there is a need for a double-sized CCD sensor to mimic the old 35mm film (24 x 36 mm) for digital cameras. I have no idea why they would think this, except that before short zoom lenses like Nikon's 12 - 24 mm and Canon's 10 - 22 mm were introduced it was hard to get ultra wide shots on digital SLRs. There would be a minor potential improvement in noise with the bigger sensor, but not particularly important when comparing the two versions of these big sensors."
An interesting article about sensor sizes in cameras. It clarified a few things for me, and is worth the read. He definitely has an opinion about the lack of a need for full-frame sensors though, so don't expect an un-biased view.
An interesting article about sensor sizes in cameras. It clarified a few things for me, and is worth the read. He definitely has an opinion about the lack of a need for full-frame sensors though, so don't expect an un-biased view.
