Is 1/2 that much better than 3/4?

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Peter Jefferson

Actually dude, the Canon H1, G1 and A1 all have native 1920x1080 sensors... at 1/3 sensor, and downscale simply to be compliant with the HDV codec requirements

With all due respect Peter, those cameras have native 1440x1080 1/3 inch sensors. The current XD HD is also native 1440x1080, but 1/2 inch.

But the point remains the same. Thomas was a bit off with the claim that no 1/3 inch chip available had HD resolution.

Originally Posted by Thomas Smet

There is also the theory that when you have pixels that small that the details will kind of get blended together anyway because the light hitting those puny chips just doesn't have the precision to get details the size of one pixel.

This is where on chip lens technology helps. It gathers and focuses light precisely onto each pixel. That has helped to make some of the smaller sensor size cameras more sensitive over the last several years. That technology is also used on the 1/2 XD HD cameras.

-gb-

[Thomas Smet]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

With all due respect Peter, those cameras have native 1440x1080 1/3 inch sensors. The current XD HD is also native 1440x1080, but 1/2 inch.

But the point remains the same. Thomas was a bit off with the claim that no 1/3 inch chip available had HD resolution.


-gb-

I never said a 1/3" wasn't HD. In fact I even said most people would find it very hard to tell them apart. What I did say is that as far as I know no 1/3" 3 chip camera has the full 1920x1080 pixel raster while actually resolving that much detail.

[Alister Chapman]

Isn't the XL-H1 1920x1080?

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Peter Jefferson

Actually dude, the Canon H1, G1 and A1 all have native 1920x1080 sensors... at 1/3 sensor, and downscale simply to be compliant with the HDV codec requirements

Dead wrong. Actually the Canon H1, G1 and A1 all have native 1440x1080 sensors.

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

Isn't the XL-H1 1920x1080?

Nope... see above... the Canon XL H1, XH G1 and XH A1 (same chips in all three camcorders) are definitely native 1440 x 1080. From there, they get a resolution boost from Pixel Shift in the horizontal axis, so it's practically "as good as" 1920 x 1080, but most assuredly native 1440 x 1080.

Originally Posted by Thomas Smet

...as far as I know no 1/3" 3 chip camera has the full 1920x1080 pixel raster while actually resolving that much detail.

Quite correct. There is no 1/3rd-inch three-chip camera that has the full 1920x1080 pixel raster. The maximum in the 1/3rd-inch realm is the CCD used in the Canon XL H1 & XH camcorders, at 1440 x 1080 (and pixel shifted from there).

Hope this helps,

[John Bosco Jr.]

Originally Posted by Josh Laronge

Are sensors are measured on the diagonal? If so, then the Red would be a 1.1" sensor.

I forgot about the Red One. You are correct the sensor size is over an inch. A 3/4" chip wouldn't be that great a difference over a 2/3rd inch, like mentioned in another reply.

[Barry Green]

Originally Posted by Josh Laronge

Are sensors are measured on the diagonal? If so, then the Red would be a 1.1" sensor.

Yes they are measured on the diagonal, but... no sensor is anywhere near the size that is reported. A 1/2" sensor does not, in any stretch of the word, actually measure 1/2". That's why the proper nomenclature is to say that it's a 1/2" TYPE sensor.

For example, a 2/3" chip doesn't measure .667 inches (17mm) across in any dimension; it's actually 9.6mm x 5.4mm, for a diagonal of about 11mm, or 0.433 inches. Yes, a 2/3" chip actually measures less than half an inch.

So, if one were to classify the Red One sensor by the diagonal measurement, using the same terminology as existing video sensors, it'd actually qualify as a 1.7" type sensor. About 2.5 times larger, on the diagonal, than a 2/3" sensor.

[John Mitchell]

FYI after attending the Sony demo on the EX the way they get away with processing so much information is there is an A to D converter on each of the 1980 rows of each sensor. So no danger of a split screen effect with this cam :)

Sony have done a good job here of speeding up processing with parrallel processing and this also minimises heat and therefore noise. Being CMOS you can also point this cam at a light or a sunset with no smear problems.