Comparing the quality of these types of camera sensors, the bigger the better.

As discussed quite a lot, the size of the sensor on a camera as well as a smartphone has a direct impact on the final image quality. The larger the sensor, the bigger the pixel will be, the better the ability to capture light will result in minimal noise, and the ‘background erase’ effect will be more visible. But does anyone know exactly how big this difference is? Recently, two photographers, JP Morgan and Kenneth Merrill of The Slanted Lens , did a small test to answer this question.

2 you use Hasselblad X1D II 50C camera (Medium Format sensor is the largest form), Sony a7R IV (Full-frame is a popular high-end sensor), Sony a6600 (APS-C smaller than 1.5 in size) diagonal lines compared to Full-frame) and Panasonic GH5 (2 times smaller than FF) to take the same picture to compare quality.

In the first test of camera strength, all cameras used focal lengths equivalent to 35mm, f / 8, ISO 200 and shot in 1 second. The difference is evident in the words ‘Wedbush’ on the top of the building, the bigger the sensor, the more visible this word is, without the surrounding fuzzy borders.

The next test is the dynamic range, we took Merrill’s portrait in a backlit scene and then corrected it with post-production software. A machine with a dynamic range as good as possible will keep the details in the area of ​​fire, accompanied by no more noise in dark areas. This test continues to have similar results, the larger the sensor lineup, the cleaner the image will be and the easier it will be to retrieve details when editing.

We can confirm one thing: sensor size directly affects the image quality of a camera. But that’s not all to consider when choosing to buy a camera, we also have to consider other factors like design, speed, features and of course the price.

Small sensor cameras will have a smaller design and also hold a lighter hand, can handle information of the quick sensor will capture more frames per second (for sports shooting), or in The case of the Panasonic GH5 is that it applies to high-quality 4K / 60fps movie recording. And usually, users will also have to spend a large amount of money to upgrade the sensor size, the difference can be thousands of dollars. Therefore, the purchase of the camera must depend on the needs of each person as well as the amount we want to spend, not just choose based on the size of the sensor.