Which cam is better for low lighting?

Jennifer2010 · Dec 3, 2012

For those with technical knowledge, please help me settle an argument with a friend.

The two cams in question are the Sony HDR-TG5V and the Sony TX200V.

One of us claims that the Sony HDR-TG5V has better low lighting performance than the 200V, and a side by side video in poor lighting produced better results from the TG5V.

This person thinks the reason behind this is because the TG5V has an f 1.8 aperture lens while the 200V has a f 3.5 lens.

The other person claims that this doesn't matter, and the 200V still receives 30% more light than the TG5V because it has a larger sensor.

Who's right, and who can explain why the TG5V allegedly produced better results in low lighting?

HDR-TG5V

Imaging Sensor : 1/5" Exmor CMOS sensor with ClearVid array
Processor : BIONZ image processor
Lens Type : Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar®
Aperture : F 1.8-2.3

TX200V

Imaging Sensor : 1/2.3" Exmor[SUP]®[/SUP] R CMOS Sensor
Processor : BIONZ[SUP]®[/SUP]

Lens Type : Carl Zeiss[SUP]®[/SUP] Vario-Tessar[SUP]®[/SUP]
Aperture : f 3.5-4.8

Thank you!

BrianV · Dec 3, 2012

To answer this, you need the manufacturer's data sheet for the specific sensors.

If the number of pixels is the same for both, the TX200v pixels should have 4 times the surface area, collects 4x the light compared with the smaller sensor. The TG5V has a lens that is two stops faster, allowing 4x the light through. So that is a "tie", each pixel collects the same amount of light.

So it comes down to which sensor has the best performance.

enzodm · Dec 3, 2012

TG5V has 2MP, 200v has 18MP. However, the OP is speaking about video, so also the second camera is being used at 2MP. I personally do not know how photographic sensors scale down to produce video.

BrianV · Dec 3, 2012

This is one of those cases where it is easier to just try out the two cameras to judge performance rather than to calculate it. If the manufacturer makes the Datasheet available, it's a good start. You need to know "Dark Current", "Well Capacity", "Quantum Efficiency", readout noise, etc. I would guess that the camera with larger pixels (the 2MPixel sensor) would do better. But it all depends on how the 18MPixel sensor combines smaller pixels. Back to try out the cameras.

snowbear · Dec 3, 2012

^ This - if the people actually have the cameras, then meet up at a dark place and test them. The 200V has a max ISO of 12800 and the TG5V specs show minimum illumination is 5 lux; I don't know the correlation between the two.