Does a camera's sensor megapixel rating match the image resolution it can produce?
Asked 9/13/2018
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If a camera is listed as having a 30.4-megapixel sensor, does that mean its largest image file will be about 30 megapixels? I'm also confused about whether the sensor itself actually has that many image pixels, or if manufacturers are referring to something slightly different.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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That's what it generally means when a manufacturer says that their camera has so many mega-pixels - that the largest image it will produce has that many pixels in it (give or take rounding off). The sensor generally has more sensels than that, because each sensel only records one level value after passing through a colored filter, and algorithms are used to convert those filtered levels into the final red/green/blue pixels you're familiar with. In addition, in many cases, some of the sensor area is used for metering and focusing.
Originally by user68706. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user68706
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—generally, a camera advertised as having a 30.4-megapixel sensor can produce images with about 30 megapixels at its maximum resolution, allowing for minor rounding.
The important nuance is that the sensor itself is made up of sensor elements (often called sensels or photosites), not full-color image pixels in the final RGB sense. Each sensel records light through a color filter, and the camera uses processing to build the final image pixels from that data.
So in everyday camera specs, “30.4 megapixels” means the camera’s largest output image is roughly 30.4 megapixels, even though the sensor isn’t literally made of final image pixels. Also, some sensor area may be used for functions like focusing or metering, so the effective imaging area can differ slightly from the total sensor structure.
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