Sensor Question

B

BlitzWerkz

Active member
Dear Filmmakers,

Have enough saving for a pro camcorder and consider moving away from HDSLR, hence need some advise on pro camcorders. Have seen there are 1/4" sensor and 1/3" sensor.

Question 1: Are these 2 kind of sensors smaller than the DSLR 1.6x sensor?

Question 2: Is 1/4" sensor smaller than 1/3", and 1/4" sensor is more prone to noise in low light areas?

Sorry for the noob question as I am new to inches and film making.

Thanks in advance.
 
1/3 and 1/4 are MUCH smaller than the 1.6x sensor which is about S35 sized (a tiny bit smaller). I do not believe I remember seeing any fixed lens camcorders with an S35 sensor, they all have removable lenses. If you want to match a DSLR with a 1.6x crop (which is APS-C I believe), your choices are:

Entry Level
- Sony FS100

Mid Level
- Sony F3
- Red Scarlet-X
- Canon C300

High Level
- Red Scarlet
- Arri Alexa

If you don't mind going to 2x crop, then you can go:

Entry Level
- Panasonic AF100

The Panasonic has the most pro-features I felt of the entry level (around $5k) cameras. I owned one and it was great. I ended up going to the FS100 because it worked a bit better in low light and was smaller overall (and lighter).

I only included the other cameras for your reference in terms of sensor size.

Here is a chart with 1/4 and 1/3

http://www.siliconimaging.com/Lens Image formats.htm

Here is one with 1/3 and 1.6x crop just to show you how different they are (and it is substantial)

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-camera-sensor-size.htm

Those small sensors are just NOT going to get the light performance of a 1.6x crop sensor for the most part.
 
Rick Burnett said:
1/3 and 1/4 are MUCH smaller than the 1.6x sensor which is about S35 sized (a tiny bit smaller). I do not believe I remember seeing any fixed lens camcorders with an S35 sensor, they all have removable lenses. If you want to match a DSLR with a 1.6x crop (which is APS-C I believe), your choices are:

Entry Level
- Sony FS100

Mid Level
- Sony F3
- Red Scarlet-X
- Canon C300

High Level
- Red Scarlet
- Arri Alexa

If you don't mind going to 2x crop, then you can go:

Entry Level
- Panasonic AF100

The Panasonic has the most pro-features I felt of the entry level (around $5k) cameras. I owned one and it was great. I ended up going to the FS100 because it worked a bit better in low light and was smaller overall (and lighter).

I only included the other cameras for your reference in terms of sensor size.

Here is a chart with 1/4 and 1/3

http://www.siliconimaging.com/Lens Image formats.htm

Here is one with 1/3 and 1.6x crop just to show you how different they are (and it is substantial)

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-camera-sensor-size.htm

Those small sensors are just NOT going to get the light performance of a 1.6x crop sensor for the most part.
Click to expand...

Thanks Sir... Thats very knowledgable. However I am not going into anything bigger than 1.6 crop or 35mm, I just wanna know how small the sensor is.

Currently I am considering AG-AC160, AC-HPX172 or AG-HVX202, tried HMC152 before but all scenes under low light is dark but still usable. Is this a norm for these cameras to suffer under low light? Just to share, Asian hotel ballrooms are terribly low lit in some situations...
 
From my experience, yes, they are usually not good for low light basically because the size of each pixel on each sensor. That is *typically* the limiting factor. The more surface area you have for each pixel on the sensor, the more light gathering capability it has.

If low light is real important, the FS100 is going to be your friend. I own it, and let me tell you, it's pretty impressive in low light.
 
Rick Burnett said:
From my experience, yes, they are usually not good for low light basically because the size of each pixel on each sensor. That is *typically* the limiting factor. The more surface area you have for each pixel on the sensor, the more light gathering capability it has.

If low light is real important, the FS100 is going to be your friend. I own it, and let me tell you, it's pretty impressive in low light.
Click to expand...

Ha Ha Ha...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/761578-REG/Sony_NEX_FS100U_NEX_FS100E_Super_35mm_Sensor.html

This one you mean? Looks really impressive but I am not armed with extra money to buy lens... If has got an adaptor, perhaps could mount my Canon L glass on?
 
BlitzWerkz said:
Ha Ha Ha...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/761578-REG/Sony_NEX_FS100U_NEX_FS100E_Super_35mm_Sensor.html

This one you mean? Looks really impressive but I am not armed with extra money to buy lens... If has got an adaptor, perhaps could mount my Canon L glass on?
Click to expand...

If you have lenses with a manual iris then you can use an adapter you can get from eBay. I got the one from rainbow imaging for like $45 and it works perfect. However, if you need electronic iris control, there is no adapter yet (and what I am waiting for as well). Birger has one that is coming, but, the wait has been VERY long and there is no date in sight.
 
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