(That 'High Definition' has nothing to do with what high definition means today.) Nobody has yet made an APS-P sensor, which is a good thing. What you do with this knowledge is up to you. Until last year, Canon also made digital SLRs with APS-H sensors, presumably named after the larger 'High Definition' APS frame size option, although Canon stuck to the standard 3:2 ratio. Anyway, the C in APS-C is for 'Classic', and digital APS-C cameras offer roughly the same frame size as APS film shot in this mode. This system was fantastic, because it allowed your mom to accidentally shoot an entire role of film in Panoramic mode and not realize it until the 4x11' prints came back from the lab with everyone's heads cut off and seven inches of negative space surrounding them. Gesundheit! APS-C takes its name from the failed late-nineties film format called Advanced Photo System, which offered photographers three frame sizes in one: 'High Definition,' a 16:9 ratio 'Panoramic,' a roughly 3:1 ratio and 'Classic,' the standard 3:2 ratio.

These numbers do not measure active imaging area, but are related to the size of the sensor (and, at least in the case of 4/3, are throwbacks to old video tube designs). Nikon uses the completely made-up designations of CX, DX, and FX, to refer to 1', APS-C, and full frame, while Canon generally sticks to the terms full frame and APS-C-even though their version of APS-C is slightly smaller than the standard APS-C size used by Nikon, Sony, and Fujifilm. Are you excited yet? Some state what looks like the actual measured size, such as 1/1.7', 2/3', or 1'. Panasonic and Olympus' Micro Four Thirds cameras use the enigmatic and improper fraction 4/3. As smartphones continue to take over the entry-level photography market, more and more attention is being given to sensor size in how cameras are marketed today. There are a plethora of sensor sizes and no real standard for describing their size. Resolution-basically, the number of pixels-used to be the main defining metric of image sensors, but physical size is actually more important. The sensor is the most important part of your camera it's the thing that collects the light, the digital equivalent of film.

Written by Daven Mathies What's a sensor?

Aps c to full frame conversion