Canon Cmos vs Nikon smaller ccd

[cj001]

Hi

Whats the thinking on the two different approaches adopted by Canon & Nikon.

Nikon has a small ccd and Canon have gone for a ccd the size of 35mm film.

Do you need to use larger lenses with the smaller Nikon receptor to gain the same effect?

 

[Don Simon]

Just thought I'd point out that Canon use a CMOS sensor, not a CCD. Nikon uses a CCD sensor for most of their cameras but in the case of their professional models use CMOS or "JFET" sensors. Secondly, only some of Canon's professional dSLRs (I'm going to include the 5D there) use a 35x24mm sensor. The ID Mark IIN, (mainly for photojournalism and sports photography) uses a smaller sensor (about 28x19mm) and most of the consumer models use a 22x15mm sensor, which would actually be slightly smaller than the CCD sensors used by Nikon.

Having said that, with smaller sensors (whether Canon CMOS or the Sony CCD used by Nikon) you do not need to use a larger lens to gain the same effective field of view as on 35mmx24mm... in fact you need a shorter one, i.e. one with a wider field of view. You can work out the difference in effect using the 'crop factor', the size of the sensor compared to 35mm. The sensors in the consumer Canons are roughly 1.6x smaller than 36x24mm, while Nikon's sensors are nearer to 1.5x smaller. Therefore for any given focal length you used on 35mm, you multiply by that 'crop factor' to work out what the field of view will be like in '35mm' terms when used on that digital sensor, for example a 50mm lens when used on a Nikon dSLR will appear to have the same field of view as a 75mm on a 35mmx24mm sensor or film. You can of course use this the other way; if you liked using 24mm on 35mm film/sensor and wanted a similar field of view on your dSLR, you divide by the 'crop factor' to find out what focal length you need, so in the case of 24mm you would now need a 16mm.
​

 

[fmw]

Hi

Whats the thinking on the two different approaches adopted by Canon & Nikon.

Nikon has a small ccd and Canon have gone for a ccd the size of 35mm film.

Do you need to use larger lenses with the smaller Nikon receptor to gain the same effect?

If the "effect" to which you refer is the angle of view, then you need a shorter lens on a digital sensor than on a 35mm sized sensor.

 

[BAB]

I thought that Canon only used the "full size sensor" on the 5D and up?

 

[Don Simon]

That's correct. And even then they don't always use a "full-frame" 35x24mm.

 

[sothoth]

Whats the thinking on the two different approaches adopted by Canon & Nikon.

Not sure if you want to know about the quality of the images from CCD versus CMOS, since many have suggested CMOS is noisier than CCD. That was true at one time, but the place where I work has several engineers that develop CMOS sensors for life sciences applications, and it's getting better or has even surpassed CCD for quality in recent months. CMOS is also cheaper than CCD, so in theory you already (and if not now, you will soon) be able to buy bigger CMOS sensors for less money than a smaller CCD. And the image quality will be as good or better, and the digital processor in the rest of the camera will be smaller and have less demand on it since CMOS can do image processing on the sensor itself, as opposed to CCD which can't.

Basically I'd make the decision based on price, size, and image quality alone and not concern myself with what type is on there. Bigger is better, if you can afford it. Image quality is about the same for now, and may get a little better with CMOS over time (all other things, like price, being equal).