All About Image Sensors

At the heart of every digital camera is an electronic marvel. A number of different sensor types are built into today’s professional cameras, and the various technologies continue to advance at a torrid pace.

Millions of photographers are purchasing digital cameras every year, and all of them seem to understand the direct correlation between a camera’s sensor and the resulting quality of their photographs. That knowledge is common, but too often cursory.

There’s clearly a lot of amazing technology packed into a sensor—things like microlenses and color filter arrays and anti-blooming gates—but it’s easy to ignore how it works. Understanding the technology provides a better understanding of the image-making process and can lead to better decisions in choosing and using a digital camera.