In digital photography, the image sensor format is the shape and size of the image sensor. The choice of sensor size is analogous to choosing between 35 mm, medium format and large format film cameras.
The image sensor format of a digital camera determines the angle of view of a particular lens when used with a particular camera. In particular, image sensors in digital SLR cameras tend to be smaller than the 24 mm x 36 mm image area of full-frame 35 mm cameras, and therefore lead to a more narrow angle of view. For a given number of pixels in a sensor, a larger image sensor typically produces higher-quality images because the individual pixels have a larger size (see below).
We are generally not bothered about what kind of sensors our digital or mobile phone cameras have? In one of the greatest marketing tricks of the gadget world, we are generally think that one metric ie. megapixel is the sole number to pay attention to, when in reality, sensor size (and quality) is far more important. Ever seen an ad boasting about sensor size?
So next time you’re choosing a digital camera check the internet for sensor specifications instead of checking the megapixel.
