sensitive sensor questions....

[ozkid88]

how many types of sensors are there and what's the difference? i know of a CCD and a MOS sensor but which is better?? anyone to share any light on this?
does the sensor define the camera- its picture quality, colour dynamic range and stuff?

thanks

 

[astrise]

To my knowledge, 3 mainstream sensors would be CCD, CMOS and Foveon. From what I've read, the main difference between CCD and CMOS is the way photosites are polled: CCD uses a bus-type of A/D conversion, while CMOS doing the A/D conversion at the photosite itself. As a direct result of this difference would be the characteristics of both sensors: noise performance, power drain, durability etc.
IQ, D-Range would probably depend more on the way color is captured. Conventional CCD/CMOS both use color filter arrays, so I suppose color reproduction (and sharpness) would be largely dependent on the manufacturer's interpolation algorithm. Foveon sensors are a whole different breed, and are reputed to be extremely accurate at color reproduction and sharpness.
So, yes, the sensor does define a lot of your camera. But the other half of the story is still skill

 

[theRBK]

buy a camera for the overall functionality and quality... if the camera feels right in operation and produces good images, has decent battery life, what sensor it uses is not so important...

 

[ozkid88]

but colours are the important thing for me so i was just wondering if the sensor affects the colour, like how real, accurate or the range it has in the colour spectrum

 

[theRBK]

the thing with sensors is that it depends on the particular company's implementation on the camera as well... even with the same chip on different cameras (even within the same brand) the output can be different...