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Your Digital Camera’s Sensor Size

In the early days of digital cameras, I used to recommend to people who were interested in licensing their images to purchase a Digital SLR (DSLR) with six or more

megapixels. These days I also recommend that they first look at sensor size. This is because now there are cameras on the market that are technically dSLRs, but don’t have a sensor size that is required to produce professional results.

What is the sensor in your camera, and why is size important?

As you know, a sensor is a device, such as a photoelectric cell, that receives and responds to an energy signal or stimulus, such as motion, heat, light (in the case of digital cameras, basically color and light). The sensor then produces another type of signal, usually electrical. These signals are converted (usually indirectly through an analog to digital converter, e.g. a computer and a display) so that the value sensed is translated for human understanding.

In digital cameras the sensor can be small (economical), mid-size, (expensive) and large (very expensive). The capacity of your camera’s sensor will indicate its ability to capture more information, and therefore higher resolution for your images.

A small sensor, like in point-and-shoot digital cameras, doesn’t give professional results no matter the number of megapixels. The sensor in cameras such as the

Canon 20D and the Nikon D70 are roughly the size of an APS-C negative, or 23.7mm by 15.7mm. A 35mm film frame is 36mm by 24mm. A camera like the Nikon Coolpix 8800 has 8 megapixels but a sensor size of only 8.8mm by 6.6mm, clearly much smaller

than the sensor in the 20D and the D70 and a lot smaller than full frame.

It gets really technical, and to make it easier for myself I look at it as if the

sensor size were my negative. All of a sudden it becomes obvious that the larger the "negative", the better technical quality of the image. Just like comparing medium format slides to 35mm slides.

So why does sensor size matter?

Well, just like with a film negative, the larger the negative, or in this

case, sensor size, the more options you’ll have for cropping, resizing etc. Also, the larger the sensor, the higher the technical quality of the picture. This makes for a big difference in many procedures, such as enlarging, enhancing and other manipulations.

I always recommend that the minimum sensor size that an editorial stock photographer should purchase is the one roughly equivalent of the APS-C negative (23.7mm by 15.7mm).

If you are purchasing a digital camera, yes, ask about megapixels, but your first question should be about sensor size.

Photojournalist Mikael Karlsson has 18 years' experience of working for magazines and newspapers in more than 30 countries. He moved to the United States in 1998 from his native Sweden. He lives in Nebraska and is currently US correspondent for 11 Swedish magazines and a regular contributor to a wide variety of U.S. publications. Reach him at mike@photosource.com.

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