Sensor size

[Chamber005]

Hey guys, just wondering what the deal is with the different sensor sizes.

I just got an HF200 and it says it has a 1/4" CMOS sensor. Its predecessor the HF100 has a 1/3" CMOS sensor. From my understanding the picture from an HF200 is superior -- just trying to understand how the whole sensor thing figures in.

 

[Barry_Green]

If all things are equal, a bigger sensor will always outperform a smaller sensor. But, if there's been a generation of technological advance between the prior version and the current version, then it's possible that a newer smaller-sensor cam can actually outperform a prior larger-sensor cam.

 

[Chamber005]

If all things are equal, a bigger sensor will always outperform a smaller sensor. But, if there's been a generation of technological advance between the prior version and the current version, then it's possible that a newer smaller-sensor cam can actually outperform a prior larger-sensor cam.

Bizarre. But I guess it makes sense.

I forgot that I have this little still cam that takes video -- and that has a 1/2" CMOS sensor -- and no way is the video better on that thing.

I don't think I'll ever understand all the technobabble and what it all means with the chipsets and sensors and pixels. I mean, that same still cam has 6.0 megapixels and my HF200 only has 3.5 (er something), and yet the photos appear equal (and maybe even better from the HF200). It seems like you said -- in technology newer will almost always be better even if the specs say otherwise.

 

[Cassius]

In marketing they always use megapixels like it's the only word needed to define photo quality, but that is extremely misleading. I'd say that's where the confusion comes from more than the technology itself; it's all being sold with whatever terms makes it sound better than everything else.