Page 6 - EN_SHOOT_WP2_Handbook for Students

04

THE SENSOR FORMATS

The photographic sensor is a base on which pixels are located.

Pixels are the real ‘receptors’ of the light entering the camera
and on which the image is created. Then light is displayed in the

form of an electrical signal and recomposed in the form of an
image by the processor inside the camera.
Sensors can have various sizes, depending on the type of

camera and on the quality of images it has to produce.
In the diagram below we will find them all, from the ones of the

smartphones to the ones of the most powerful and expensive
cameras

Each of them can contain different amounts of pixels and it

characterizes its quality, speed and definition: 6 mln, 12 mln,
24, 40, 100 mln pixels and regardless of its size.
It is also clear that better prints and higher magnifications

can be obtained without any loss of quality from a larger
sensor.