what is 28mm on a full frame camera match to on a micro 4/3 camera

Since 2016, a " one-inch Type " sensor size has optimized the portability of serioustravel cameras (recommended hither). In comparison, cameras using larger APS-C sensors crave heftier 11x to 19x travel zoom lenses which struggle to sharpen the edges of the frame. Cameras using even bigger full-frame sensors  restrict zoom range and overburden travelers. Sensors smaller than "1-inch" size tin can support super zoom ranges, but at the toll of poor paradigm quality, especially in dim low-cal. Smartphones recoup for tiny cameras via computational power and instantly-shareable images, but zoom poorly and fumble in dim lite.

The archaic inch-sizing of camera light sensors is clarified in the illustration and table below, with relative sizes and millimeters. Legacy sizing labels such equally one/2.v″ Type harken back to antiquated 1950s-1980s Vidicon video photographic camera tubes!

For a given twelvemonth of technological accelerate, a camera with physically bigger sensor area tends to capture meliorate prototype quality by gathering more light, just at the price of larger-diameter, bulkier lenses. Contempo digital sensor advances have shrunk cameras and increased optical zoom ranges while preserving image quality. An evocative image can clearly exist created with any decent camera in the hands of a skilled or lucky photographer. Topsmartphone cameras can potentially make good 18-inch prints and share publishable pictures. But I recommend a bigger camera for superior optical zoom, better operation in dim low-cal, and sharper prints.

Beneath, compare sensor sizes for digital cameras:

This illustration compares digital camera sensor sizes: total frame 35mm (which is actually 36mm wide), APS-C, Micro Four Thirds, 1-inch, one/1.7″ and ane/2.5" Blazon. For new digital cameras, a bigger sensor area captures better quality, but requires larger-bore, bulkier lenses. As of 2018, ane-inch Type sensors optimize the size of a serious travel camera. "Full-frame 35mm" sensor (36 x 24 mm) is a standard for comparison, with a diagonal field-of-view crop cistron = 1.0; in comparison, a pocket camera's 1/2.5" Type sensor crops the light gathering past vi.0x smaller diagonally (with a surface surface area 35 times smaller than full frame).

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ane″-Blazon sensor size is now optimal for travel camera portability

I upgrade my digital camera every ii-iv years because the latest devices keep beating older models. Since 2016, 1″-Type sensors optimize the bulk of serious travel cameras, as in the following which capture fantabulous dynamic range (vivid to dark) with exceptionally fast autofocus:

• The best & brightest pocketable zoom photographic camera is Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 VI (at Amazon) (2018, 11 oz, 8x zoom 24–200mm f/2.8-4.v) — my favorite backpacking camera. Upgrading to Sony RX100 VII focuses even faster. Read my RX100M6 review.
• Cheaper culling: Panasonic LUMIX ZS100 camera (Amazon) (2016, 11oz, 10x zoom, 25-250mm equivalent, 20mp). The pocketableZS100 (read my review) is not as sharp as the 3x-zoom Sony RX100 V, IV or III cameras, only captures close macro at more zoom settings and enormously extends optical telephoto accomplish 70-250mm, which clearly beats digitally cropping those 3x-zoom rivals.
• Capturing 20 high-quality megapixels, both the Panasonic ZS100 and superior Sony RX100 version VI rival the daylight prototype quality of all my camera systems used over 34 years until 2012 (chirapsia my cameras up to iv times heavier, up to 11x zoom range, up to 12 megapixels, shot at base ISO 100). Since the release of Panasonic ZS100 in 2016 and Sony RX100 Half dozen in 2018, publishable image quality can now come from pocketsize cameras having versatile 10x or 8x zooms!
• My principal camera: Sony RX10 IV (toll at Amazon) (2018, 37 oz, 25x zoom) is the world's most versatile midsize camera for on-the-go photographers (read my RX10 4 review).

APS-C size sensor

Although I prefer the in a higher place portable all-in-one solutions for travel convenience, a peak APS-C-sensor camera (such as Sony A6300) lets you interchange lenses and capture less noise in dim lite at ISO 3200+.

Traditionalists wanting an optical viewfinder , more lens choices, and night photography may option a bulkier DSLR-style camerawith APS-C sensor:

• Nikon D3500 mounted with versatile Tamron 16-300mm f/three.5-six.3 Di 2 VC lens is a good-value 32-ounce DSLR travel organisation.

Micro Four Thirds Cameras

How about the excellent Panasonic and Olympus cameras with Micro Four Thirds sensor? In comparison, the Sony A6xxx camera series is virtually as compact withal collects more calorie-free onto a larger APS-C sensor. Also older models save mucho money.

When I examine Micro Four Thirds systems with interchangeable lenses like the Panasonic GX80, for that weight and expense class, y'all get more than for your money and a much larger sensor (APS-C) if you get with a Sony A6400 or A6300 camera, which accept like system weight, generally amend quality images (24 MP vs measly 16 MP), better viewfinder, first-class hybrid focus system, and longer battery life (400 versus 290 shots per accuse). I've ofttimes admired the solid quality of recent Micro Four Thirds cameras such as Olympus (who made my beloved OM-1N moving-picture show camera dorsum in the 1980s), but the Micro Four Thirds value proposition hasn't quite kept up with other systems, year by yr (equally of 2021).

Full-frame-sensor Cameras

Compared to APS-C, the pace up tofull-frame-sensor cameras costs extra, adds bulk, and is only needed if you regularly shoot in dim light college than ISO 6400 (such as for indoor action), or specialize in nighttime photography, or often print images larger than two or three feet in size (to exist viewed closer than their longest dimension by critically abrupt eyes).

Merely there'southward no need to go overboard. Permit'due south put this in perspective: huge effective billboards can exist printed from small 3-megapixel cameras (read my article).

How to compare cameras

• My CAMERAS article updates Lite Travel camera recommendations several times per twelvemonth.
• If possible, compare cameras shot side-past-side under a variety of actual field weather condition (which I do merely before selling a quondam camera to ostend the quality of the new replacement camera). I like to "pixel-peep" a side-by-side comparison of 2 different cameras capturing the same subject under same lighting conditions in the field. Exist sure to mentally or digitallynormalizewhatsoever two given shots to compare their fine item as if printed with equal overall prototype size.
• Judge prototype quality and resolution at 100% pixel enlargement at the authoritative dpreview.com (owned by Amazon since 2007) and handy Comparometer at imaging-resource.com, using standardized studio test views for many cameras.
• Check other review sites comparing telephoto capabilities of different cameras side-past-side. This comparison is frequently disregarded, despite being crucial for zoom cameras.

Yearly advances of 2014-16 put the sweet spot for serious travel cameras betwixt 1"-Type and APS-C size sensors. Then from 2016-2021, camera designs using 1"-Type sensors surpassed the portability of APS-C models for capturing publishable images inside a wider zoom range.

Most cheaper compact cameras accept smaller but noisier sensors such as 1/2.3″ Blazon (6.17 x 4.56 mm) — tiny enough to miniaturize a superzoom lens, but poor for capturing dim light or for enlarging prints much beyond 12-18 inches.

Smartphones can take fifty-fifty tinier sensors, such every bit 1/3.0″ Type  (4.8 mm 10 3.half-dozen mm) in Apple iPhone versions 5S through 8. Remarkably, top smartphone cameras take improved miniature sensors to the point where citizen journalists tin can capture newsworthy photos with prototype quality good enough for fast sharing and quick international publication. The all-time cameras are in the latest Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy, and Apple iPhones. My onetime Samsung Note5 smartphone (same camera as in S6 & S7 with 1/2.6″ sensor) captures sunny 16-megapixel images sufficient to make a sharp 18-inch print, about duplicate from that taken by a larger photographic camera.

Smartphone tips: To isolate subjects, avoid the digital zoom on smartphones, which records extra pixels without calculation quality. Instead move closer before shooting, or crop at editing time. Utilise your phone'southward 2x telephoto camera (~50mm equivalent lens), if any. Tiny subjects tin be enlarged best at close focus using the 2x tele lens, as on Samsung Galaxy S9+ or my Note9.

Read this pointed perspective on how far epitome quality has progressed from early on DSLR to 2014 smartphone cameras. Historically, evocative images can clearly be captured regardless of camera size or modernity. But for a given year of technological advance, tiny-sensor cameras can accept severe limitations compared to physically larger cameras in terms of impress enlargement, autofocus speed, blurred performance in dim/indoor light, and then forth. The "best" travel camera is the one that you are willing to bear.

More than details:

The non-standardized fractional-inch sensor sizing labels such as 1/ii.five-inch Blazon  and 1/1.7″ Type confusingly refer to antiquated 1950s-1980s Vidicon video camera tubes . When yous run into those primitive "inch" size labels, instead await up the actual length and width in millimeters reported in the specifications for each camera:

Table of camera sensor size, area, and diagonal ingather factor relative to 35mm full-frame

Sensor Type	Diagonal (mm)	Width (mm)	Peak (mm)	Sensor Surface area (in square millimeters)	Full frame sensor area is ten times bigger	Diagonal crop factor* versus full frame
ane/iii.two″ (Apple iPhone five smartphone 2012)	5.68	4.54	three.42	15.50	55	vii.6
i/3.0″ (Apple iPhone 8, 7, vi, 5S smartphone)	6.00	four.lxxx	3.60	17.xxx	50	7.ii
1/ii.six″ Type (Samsung Galaxy S9, Note9, S8, S7, S6, Note5)	6.86	five.5	4.i	22.55	38	6.3
1/2.five″ Type	7.18	5.76	four.29	24.70	35	6.0
1/ii.3″ Type (Canon PowerShot SX280HS, Olympus Tough TG-2)	7.66	half-dozen.17	4.56	28.07	31	5.6
one/1.seven″ (Canon PowerShot S95, S100, S110, S120)	9.thirty	7.44	5.58	41.51	21	four.7
1/1.7″ (Pentax Q7)	9.fifty	7.60	5.70	43.30	20	4.6
ii/3″ (Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone with 41 MP camera; Fujifilm Ten-S1, X20, XF1)	eleven.00	eight.80	half dozen.60	58.10	15	3.ix
Standard 16mm Film Frame	12.vii	ten.26	seven.49	76.85	11	iii.4
1" Type (Sony RX100 & RX10, Nikon CX, Panasonic ZS100, ZS200, FZ1000)	15.86	13.twenty	8.80	116	7.iv	2.vii
Micro 4 Thirds, 4/three	21.lx	17.30	13	225	three.eight	2.0
APS-C: Canon EF-Southward	26.70	22.20	14.eighty	329	two.6	1.6
APS-C: Nikon DX, Sony NEX/Alpha DT, Pentax K	28.two – 28.4	23.6 – 23.7	fifteen.60	368 – 370	2.3	ane.52 – i.54
35mm full-frame (Nikon FX, Sony Alpha/Alpha Atomic number 26, Canon EF)	43.ii – 43.3	36	23.9 – 24.3	860 – 864	1.0	1.0
Kodak KAF 39000 CCD Medium Format	61.30	49	36.80	1803	0.48	0.71
Hasselblad H5D-threescore Medium Format	67.08	53.7	40.2	2159	0.forty	0.65
Phase One P 65+, IQ160, IQ180	67.40	53.90	40.forty	2178	0.39	0.64
IMAX Picture show Frame	87.91	70.41	52.63	3706	0.23	0.49

* Crop Factor: Note that a "total frame 35mm" sensor/moving picture size (nearly 36 x 24 mm) is a common standard for comparison, having a diagonal field of view crop factor of one.0. The debatable term crop factor  comes from an attempt by 35mm-flick users to sympathize how much the bending of view of their existing full-frame lenses would narrow (increase in telephoto ability) when mounted on digital SLR (DSLR) cameras which had sensor sizes (such as APS-C) which are smaller than 35mm.

With early DSLR cameras, many photographers were concerned nearly the loss of image quality or resolution by using a digital sensor with a low-cal-gathering area smaller than 35mm flick. Nonetheless, for my publishing needs, APS-C-size sensor improvements hands surpassed my scanning of 35mm film by 2009.

An interesting number for comparing cameras is "Full frame sensor area is x times bigger" in the in a higher place table.

• In comparing to full a frame sensor, a pocket camera'south one/2.5-inch Blazon sensor crops the light gathering surface 6.0 times smaller diagonally, or 35 times smaller in area.
• An APS-C  size sensor gathers about 15 times more light (area) than a 1/2.five" Blazon sensor and 2.four times less than full frame.
  • APS-C sensors in Nikon DX, Pentax, and Sony Ehave 1.5x diagonal field of view crop factor.
  • APS-C sensors in Catechism EF-S DSLRs have i.6x diagonal field of view crop factor.
• 1 terminate is a doubling or halving of the amount of gathered low-cal. Doubling a sensor's surface area theoretically gathers one stop more than light, simply depends upon lens design.

Lens quality & diameter besides touch on image quality

For improving paradigm quality, thequalityand diameter of the lens can rival the importance of having a physically larger sensor area. Prime number (non-zoom) lenses usually are sharpest for larger prints, just zoom lenses are more versatileand recommended for travelers.

A small sensor tin can beat larger with newer design (BSI) plus faster eyes:

In my side-by-side field tests, the abrupt, brilliant 25x zoom of Sony RX10 III (read my version Four review) resoundingly beats the resolution of 11x SEL18200 lens on APS-C Sony A6300 at 90+ mm equivalent telephoto, fifty-fifty as high as ISO 6400. (Wider angle zoom settings show little quality difference.) Plain RX10'due south faster f/ii.4-4 lens plus backside illumination (BSI) applied science magically recoup for the sensor size difference,1″-Type versus APS-C. Like most APS-C-sensor cameras in 2016, A6300 lacks BSI. Surprisingly piffling noise affects RX10's paradigm quality at loftier ISO 6400 in dim light. Its larger lens diameter gathering more light also helps in this comparison (72mm filter size of RX10 Three versus 67mm SEL18200 on A6300).

Larger lens diameter can help dim light photography:

In my field tests, the sharpness of Sony's high-quality SEL1670Z  3x zoom f/4 lens on A6300 isonly nigh 5% ameliorate than Sony RX10 III f/ii.iv-four in bright low-cal in the wider half of its 24-105mm equivalent range, but no better in dim light. I await thatRX10's catch-upward in quality under dim light is due to superior light sensitivity of BSI sensor plus larger lens diameter gathering more lite, 72mm versus 55mm.

Using sugariness spot of full-frame lenses on APS-C may not improve quality:

In principle, you might look a slightly sharper image on an APS-C sensor when using the sweet spot of a lens designed for a total frame (which has a larger imaging circle), but results really vary, particularly when using older film-optimized lenses. In fact, a lens which is designed and optimized peculiarly "for digital, for APS-C" tin can equal or exceed the quality of an equivalent full-frame lens on the same sensor, while also reducing bulk and weight (as in the Sony E-mount example farther below).

Theoretically, new full-frame lenses "designed for digital" (using epitome-infinite telecentric design) may perform better on a digital sensor than would older lenses designed for film:

• Unlike film, digital sensors receivecalorie-free best when strucksquarely rather than at a grazing angle.
• Digital cameras perform best with lenses optimized especially "for digital", using image-space telecentric designs, in which all the rays state squarely on the sensor (as opposed to having incoming rays sally at the aforementioned angle as they entered, as in a pinhole camera). The light buckets (sensels) on digital sensors require light rays to exist more parallel than with moving-picture show (to enter at close to a 90 degree angle to the sensor).
• Moving-picture show tin record light at more than grazing angles than a digital sensor. Because older pic-optimized lenses bend light to hit the sensor at more than of a glancing angle, they reduce light-gathering efficiency and cause more than vignetting around the edges (which is somewhat mitigated past the image circle beingness cropped by the APS-C sensor, which uses just the eye role of the total-frame lens).

Side-past-side testing works better than theory to distinguish lenses:

Compare the following two Sony Due east-mount zoom lenses, full-frame versus APS-C:

1. 2015 full-frame "Sony E-mount Iron 24-240mm f/3.5-vi.3 OSS" lens (27.v oz, 36-360mm equivalent).
2. 2010 APS-C "Sony E-mountain 18-200mm f/3.5-vi.3 OSS (argent SEL-18200)" lens (18.5 oz, 27-300mm equiv).

Both lenses are optimized for digital, nevertheless the APS-C lens is much lighter weight and performs equal to or better than the total-frame lens. Side-by-side comparisons and also DxOMark tests on a Sony A6000 camera show that while they are about every bit precipitous, the Sony 24-240 has more baloney, vignetting and chromatic aberration than the 18-200mm.

Raw format and advantages of big sensors over small

For a given angle of view, cameras with larger sensors can reach a shallower depth of field than smaller sensors, a characteristic which motion-picture show makers and portrait photographers like to use for blurring the background (at brightest aperture setting, smallest F number value) to depict more attention to the focused bailiwick. Conversely, smaller-sensor cameras like the Sony RX10 III and RX100 III tend to be much better at capturing close-focus (macro) shots with great depth of field (especially at wide angle), at ISO up to 800. But the macro advantages of pocket-size-sensor cameras tin diminish in dim low-cal or when shooting at ISO higher than 800.

Landscape photographers oft adopt to capture a deep depth of field, which tin be accomplished with both pocket-sized and large sensor cameras. Optimal edge-to-edge sharpness usually occurs when stopping downward the aperture once or twice from brightest opening, such as between f/iv to f/five.six on i-inch Type sensor, or between f/five.6 to f/8 on APS-C (which also helps diminish chromatic aberrations). Stopping down further with f/numbers larger than this increases depth of field, but worsens diffraction through the smaller student opening (such equally at f/11-f/16 on 1″ sensor or f/22 on APS-C), noticeably softening detail.

To maximize raw dynamic range  of effulgence values from brilliant to dark, apply base ISO  (effectually ISO 100 or 200 in virtually digital nevertheless cameras), rather than higher ISO settings which amplify noise (blotchiness at the pixel level, well-nigh-visibly in shadows). However, using the latest full-frame sensors at high ISO values 6400+ can capture unprecedentedly low noise and opennew possibilities for dim-light action photography at mitt-held shutter speeds, indoors or at night.

Without the help of a flash, dark and dim indoor photography is all-time with a total-frame sensor to get together more low-cal with less racket. Low-noise night photography is usually best shot on a tripod at slow shutter speeds in raw format betwixt ISO 100 and 800 (or as high as 1600-3200 on the latest large sensors).

For a given twelvemonth of technological advance, cameras with larger sensors typically capture a wider dynamic range of brightness values from bright to night per prototype than smaller sensors, with less racket. In 2016, Sony's 1″-Type behind illumination (BSI)sensors capture sufficient dynamic range for my needs.

Camera raw format allows editing recovery of several stops of highlight and shadow particular which would exist lost (truncated) in JPEG file format (if overexposed or underexposed). Alternatively, PC software or camera firmware using HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging lets any size of sensor greatly increment an prototype's dynamic range by combining multiple exposures. But for me, the neat dynamic range of a singleraw file (from 1″-Type BSI or APS-C sensor) commonly makes shooting extra images for HDR unnecessary.

Despite avant-garde circuitry, cameras are not smart enough to know which subjects are supposed to be white, black, or midtone in brightness. By default, all cameras underexpose scenes where white tones (such as snowfall) predominate, and overexpose highlights in scenes where black tones predominate. IMPORTANT TIP: To correctly expose for all tones, you need to lock exposure upon a perceived midtone (such as a gray carte; or on a line halfway betwixt calorie-free and shadow) in the aforementioned light as your framed subject .

For greatest editing flexibility, rather than shooting JPEG format, serious photographers should record and edit images in raw format , which is supported in avant-garde cameras (but often non in small-sensor devices). Editing raw format fully recovers badly-exposed images − allowing you lot to "point and shoot" more freely than with JPEG. Even so, I carefully shoot to expose each histogram to the far right while avoiding truncation of highlights, in order to capture the highest signal-to-racket ratio in each scene. Effort to stay close to base ISO 100 or 200. I typically first shoot a test shot on automatic Aperture-preferred priority, inspect the histogram, check any blinking highlight warnings, then recoup subsequent shots using Manual Exposure (or temporary Exposure Lock grabbed from the scene). Tonal editing ofJPEGs tin can chop-chop truncate color channels or accumulate circular-off errors, frequently making the epitome announced pasty, pixelated, or posterized. White Balance (Colour Balance) is easily adaptable subsequently shooting raw files, but tonal editing often skews colors oddly in JPEG. 12-chip Raw format has 16 times the tonal editing headroom and color accurateness compared to JPEG (which has merely 8 bits per pixel per red, dark-green, or blue color channel). In their favor, automated point-and-shoot JPEG photographic camera exposure modes get smarter every yr, making avant-garde larger cameras less necessary for many people.

Detailed total-frame comparison of low-lite Sony A7S 12 MP versus A7R 36 MP

How tin can nosotros distinguish the image quality captured past different cameras? Images are all-time compared at a normalized pixel level (with fine detail examined on a monitor equally if printed with equal overall epitome size) subsequentlyshooting side-past-side in the field with comparable lens and shutter speed settings. Consider two sibling full-frame-sensor cameras:

1. Sony Alpha A7S (12 MP of big-bucket photosites optimized for loftier ISO, low light, and videography plus stills, new in 2015) versus
2. Sony Alpha A7R (36 megapixels of smaller-bucket photosites optimized for high resolution, new in 2014)

Despite its tinier but denser photositebuckets(also called senselsor pixel wells for communicable lite photons), the 36 MP Sony Alpha A7R beats the dynamic range of 12 MP Sony Alpha A7S in a normalized comparison of raw files (see dpreview article). While both cameras spread their photosites across the same surface area of afull-frame sensor, the 36 MP A7R trumps the 12 MP A7S for exposure breadth flexibility in raw mail-processing at ISO 100 through 6400. Overall prototype quality of the 12 MP A7S doesn't beat the A7R until ISO 12,800 and higher (but only in the shadows through midtones nether depression-light weather condition). Sony A7S is improve for low-light videographers, whereas A7R is better for low-light mural photographers who value high resolution and dynamic range.

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Source: http://photoseek.com/2013/compare-digital-camera-sensor-sizes-full-frame-35mm-aps-c-micro-four-thirds-1-inch-type/

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