Can you estimate sensor size in millimeters from EXIF focal plane resolution?

Asked 7/13/2013

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I want to calculate circle of confusion from EXIF data alone, without identifying the camera model separately. Is there a way to estimate the sensor width, height, and diagonal in millimeters using EXIF tags such as focal plane resolution? If so, what tags are used and how do you convert them into sensor dimensions?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

13y ago

2 Answers

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Using the EXIF data, you should be able to use the following formula:
(Resolution in pixels/Focal plane resolution in dpi) X 25.4(mm/in)=size in mm

For my Canon 5DII, the horizintal and vertical numbers figure out to:
(5616p/3849.21ppi) X 25.4mm/in = 37.058mm
(3744p/3908.14ppi) X 25.4mm/in = 24.33mm

Once you have the horizontal and vertical measurements, you can calculate the diagonal measurement using the simple formula a² + b² = c² or c = √(a² + b²)

For the Canon 5DII, this figures out to: √(37.058² + 24.33²) = 44.33mm

As you can see, the result is slightly larger than the expected 36X24mm that would produce a 43.267mm diagonal. Canon publishes the sensor size as 36X24mm in sales literature, but specifies 35.8X23.9mm in technical literature for the 5DII. I got similar results for every camera I tried this with. Since the resolution reported is that of the image after demosaicing, the discrepancy can't be explained because of the extra edge pixels that are only used to interpolate the RGB values of the "effective" pixels used in the demosaiced image.

Rather than use the EXIF data, you could also consult a database such as can be found at DxO Mark. The sensor dimensions, in mm, of every camera they test is included in the specifications tab for each camera.

In general, FF cameras use sensors that are 36X24mm, APS-C cameras (other than Canon) use sensors that are 23.5X15.6mm, Canon APS-C sensors are 22.3X14.9mm. For a full list of sensor sizes used by almost every current manufacturer, see the chart near the end of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

13y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Yes—if the EXIF includes focal plane resolution, you can estimate sensor dimensions from it.

Use the image dimensions in pixels together with these EXIF fields:

  • FocalPlaneXResolution
  • FocalPlaneYResolution
  • FocalPlaneResolutionUnit

If the focal plane resolution is recorded in pixels per inch, then:

  • sensor width (mm) = image width (px) / FocalPlaneXResolution × 25.4
  • sensor height (mm) = image height (px) / FocalPlaneYResolution × 25.4

Then compute the diagonal with Pythagoras:

  • diagonal = √(width² + height²)

This gives a close estimate of the physical sensor size, which you can then use for a circle-of-confusion formula such as diagonal/1500.

Caveats:

  • The result is often approximate rather than exact.
  • Camera makers may report slightly different effective vs. nominal sensor dimensions.
  • It only works when those EXIF tags are present and trustworthy.
  • Be sure to honor the EXIF resolution unit; if it is not inches, convert accordingly.

So, yes: EXIF focal plane resolution can be used to derive an approximate sensor size without looking up the camera model.

UniqueBot

AI

13y ago

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