Hi, everybody, welcome to episode eight of the photography explained podcast in this episode, why is camera sensor size important?
I'm your host, Rick, and each week I'll try and explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes without the irrelevant details. Blimey, bit of a mouthful.
My aim is to explain things in just enough detail to help us with our photography and no more. Today I am trying an experiment on this episode recording in my office, which might be a bit bouncy and echoey. But I'm hoping that the technology will be able to deal with that.
Let's see how we get on with it.
This is the answer that wrote some time after recording this episode
The size of the camera sensor size defines the type of camera, the most popular ones being full frame, APS-C or micro four third cameras. The size of the camera sensor is a significant factor in the quality of images captured, with larger camera sensors generally recording more data and providing higher quality images. The size of the camera sensor is related to the cost of the camera – generally the larger the sensor the more expensive the camera.
Now back to what I said.
Why is camera sensor size important?
This is one of those fundamental things to be honest with you. Incredibly confusing. It is just the way that photography has evolved over the years, means the size of a sensor of pretty much determines what type of camera it is.
Now, let me explain that. I'm not pretending to talk about every possible camera out there. I mentioned most of the camera types in a previous episode. I want to focus on the main cameras available for us normal folks.
I’m excluding all the large format or the really expensive massive things, and medium format. I’m going with, like I say, cameras that normal people can buy.
Three camera types determined by sensor size (missing from the spoken episode!)
Now there are three different types of normal cameras that people can buy.
First, they are sorry, I'll just tell you what they are first. These are a
- Full frame camera
- APS-C camera and
- Micro Four Thirds camera.
Now these three different types of cameras all have one fundamental difference. That is that the sensor is of a different size.
How big are the sensors? Full frame camera
Okay, so I use a Canon 6D for my architectural and construction photography.
The sensor size is 36x24mm.
Other full frame cameras will have slightly different dimensions, but the point is, that's the size of a full frame sensor. Now this rather bizarrely equates to the size of a film negative from back in the camera film days.
So why we've ended up taking the dimension of a negative making the sense of the same size? I’m not really sure how that happened.
How big are the sensors? APS-C camera
Moving on APSC is a baffling term that shouldn't exist (in my opinion). It goes back to the Advanced Photo System, which was another camera film thing. But the thing we need to know is an APS-C sensor is smaller than a full frame camera sensor.
An APS-C sensor is 25.1x16.7mm
Yep, there are variances from this again, but that's the overall general dimension.
How big are the sensors? Micro Four Thirds camera
Now micro four thirds is a completely different system. A Micro Four Thirds camera sensor (according to Mark Thackara at Olympus UK) is
8x13.5mm.
Let's just go through these again
- Full frame sensor 36x24mm
- APS-C sensor 25.1x16.7mm
- Micro Four Thirds sensor 18x13.5mm.
The actual dimensions vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
But the general point is this. A full frame sensor is the biggest sensor of conventional consumer cameras. An APS-C sensor is smaller, and a Micro Four Thirds sensor is smaller still.
So what does full frame mean?
I've explained that
What does APS-C mean?
I've explained that?
What does Micro Four Thirds mean?
Not going to lie to you? I haven't got a clue.
APS-C I didn't really explain - it doesn't really matter. It's just a term from the past. That's irrelevant detail to me.
Without the irrelevant detail
The origins of these sensor size names is to me irrelevant detail. Knowing where the term micro four thirds comes from does not help me explain the different sizes of sensors.
APS-C could be called Bob and it would not make any difference to me. I probably should know what that means. But again, doesn't help me. Doesn't make any difference. Not really.
A full frame sensor is bigger than an APS-C, which is bigger than a micro four thirds sensor.
So what does this actually mean?
Well, in general terms, the bigger the sensor, the bigger the camera, and in general terms, the bigger the camera and the bigger the sensor the more expensive the camera is.
In even broader terms, the bigger the sensor, the better the camera.
I am not saying that a full frame camera is better than the Micro Four Thirds camera. They're just different. They're different sizes. Do you need to get hung up on this? Not really. But it does determine which camera to buy.
Other things that matter
There are lots of other influences caused by camera sensor size such as the focal length. With a full frame camera 50mm is termed a standard lens. A 50mm focal length on a full frame camera relates to how you see things with your eyes.
Crop factors introduced
You put a 50mm lens on an APS-C camera, it’s focal length is in effect 80mm, slightly telephoto. You put a 50mm lens on a Micro Four Thirds camera and it gives a focal length of100mm - actual focal length.
There are other things, these are the fundamentals.
General camera systems
Yeah, sensors are expensive things to make. So the bigger the sensor (in general terms), the more expensive the camera will be.
Right, my notes run out there. I've got lots more to say on this. So we're gonna go for a bit of an ad lib.
What do I use of my architectural and construction photography?
I use a full frame Canon 6D. It's quite big, well it’s not huge, but it's quite big and inconvenient. And I don't like taking on holiday and using it. So I bought an Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera, the Olympus EM5 Mk 2, which is a lot smaller.
Is it smaller?
Then again, I put a lens on it like the 12-40mm F 2.8 and it becomes a bit of a lump anyway. But if I put the pancake lens on, I can pretty much get that camera in my pocket. It's brilliant. And the photos are fantastic too. Which takes me on to the next ad lib question.
Can you get better photos with a full frame camera than you can with an APS-C or Micro Four Thirds camera?
I think the general answer is possibly. But having a bigger, better camera doesn't mean you're gonna take bigger better photos – did I say bigger photos? Of course you will. But that's another issue of file sizes and what have you can take better photos.
No, it does not. You can have the best camera in the world and still take rubbish photos, you can have a very average camera and take a great photo.
That's not the point here. But what I wanted to get over was what these different camera sensors are and why they're so important in choosing a camera and what the different camera systems are.
Money
Like I say Micro Four Thirds tend to be smaller. So if we're comparing similar performing cameras, micro four thirds cameras tend to be cheaper than a APS-C cameras, which tend to be cheaper than full frame cameras.
Obviously, each manufacturer has many different models and many different prices (or as others like to say price points).
Hopefully you've got it by now.
Do I need to go into any more detail on this?
The answer is no. Because I've not written any more. I haven't got anything more to say on this because I think that the point I wanted to make I've made which is full frame, APS-C and micro four thirds (not microphones as the transcript reads) are different camera systems with different sizes of sensors.
Take your pick
They're all brilliant these days – it really is hard to buy a bad camera. Seriously is so yep, that's that one done.
Next on the photography explained podcast. How do I learn to use my camera? I think that's what I'm doing. I might change the order. Tell you what, let's wait till Thursday and find out.
Thank you
Thank you very much for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this episode. I enjoyed this one. It was nice to explain this. If you did enjoy it, please leave a nice review and rating wherever you get your podcast from. And also please subscribe so you don't miss any episodes. And if you could also tell everyone you know about my podcast that would be even better and I will be very grateful.
You can also check out my website Rick McEvoy Photography where you can find out all about me and my architectural and construction photography work as well as my blog where you can learn lots more about photography. Yes, I'm reading this bit off the page. I really need to learn this off by heart don’t I?
Last thing - if you want me to explain something, head over to my website. Post podcast episode note – the Photography Explained Podcast website. Head over to my website, send me an email Tell me what the question is and I'll add it to the list and that will be that.
Thank you very much. See you on the next one. I've been Rick. Bye
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
camera, sensor, photography, full frame camera, full frame sensor, micro four thirds, photos, general, size, Olympus, dimension, bigger, micro four thirds, lens, focal length