Sensor size question

eccs19 · Dec 22, 2009

A friend of mine just purchased a Panasonic LX3 camera, and in the manual it says that the sensor size is 1/1.63". He's always known sensor size by the actual physical size of the sensor (height & width). Anyone know the actual physical size of the sensor, or is it actually 1" x 1.63"? We figure that just doesn't sound correct. Did a Google, but only came up with the original number I posted.

NateWagner · Dec 22, 2009

That is approximately a 6x8 millimeter sensor. This is a little larger than what I typically see in p&s's though not too much of a difference.

Stosh · Dec 22, 2009

I'm not sure if your specific size is mentioned here, but here's good link to learn about the sensor sizes:
Image sensor format - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NateWagner · Dec 22, 2009

to further add, it's from the tv tube days... the 1/1.63 is the size of the sensor diagonally expressed as a function. Thus, the diagonal is 0.613 inches and the vertical and horizontal are appx. 1/4 x 1/3

Dao · Dec 22, 2009

According to the link below, 1/1.7" is "7.6mm x 5.7mm" only. Since the LX3 is 1/1.63", so it is pretty close.

Image sensor format - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edit: Man! I type too slow ....

Martin_Garcia · Dec 22, 2009

No, that number is the actual diameter of a circle. If you take 2/3 of this circle diameter you will get the actual diagonal of your sensor (average).

Take a look at this Sensor Sizes: Camera System: Glossary: Learn: Digital Photography Review

So, 1/1.63'' is about 0.61349'' converting this to mm (1 inch = 25.4 mm) we get a diameter of 15.58 mm. Now, this is not the real diagonal of your sensor. If you calculate the 2/3 of this circle diameter you will get you sensor diagonal. This is 10.389 mm aprox.

Now to calculate the width and height of your sensor we need the aspect ratio that probably is 4:3. If this is the case the Width will be about 8.3112mm and the height 6.2334mm.

Regards,

Ron Evers · Dec 22, 2009

Maybe this link will explane better.

http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicDMCLX3/images/asp/AR.jpg

Dwig · Dec 22, 2009

Martin_Garcia said:
No, that number is the actual diameter of a circle. If you take 2/3 of this circle diameter you will get the actual diagonal of your sensor (average)...

This non-standard, as the original Wiki link calls it, measurment dates from the ancient vacuum tube imagers using in TV cameras. The measurment is the diameter of the tube and not the dimension of the actual usable portion of the tube's face. The usable portion was approximately 2/3rds the diameter of the actual tube so the diagonal measure of the largest usable rectangle was about 2/3rds of the tube diameter.