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1. the angle of view of the lens (crop factor);
2. noise leve; and
3. dynamic range
Different image sensor size
Medium format – 51x39mm
Full frames (FX) – 36x24mm. e.g.Nikon D3, D700; Canon 1D, 5D
Compact cameras – ~8x6mm.
Refer to the charts above, compact camera sensors are about 9 times smaller than the APS-C and 20 times smaller than the full frame format.
In terms of noise performance, the desirable properties of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and sensor unity gain both scale with the square root of sensor area. Therefore, typical DX and FX DSLRs will have a SNR that is sqrt(9)= 3 times and sqrt(20)= 4.5 times higher than a compact digital camera respectively.
Because of this, DSLRs can offer high-quality pictures even at high ISO, while compact cameras tend to produce grainy images. Typically, noise starts to be noticable for
FX – @ ISO 3200+
DX – @ ISO 1600+
Compact – @ISO 200+
The noise level is also exacerbated by pixel count where higher number of pixels means a higher pixel/mm2 (higher pixel density) and hence noiser image.
Different sensor types
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