Ideal Sensor Size ? Part 6 Smaller Formats

Author Andrew S  June 2013

The surf was up today so I snapped a few boardriders off the point at Dee Why. Not made with a superzoom camera as I don't own one. I used a Lumix GH3 with Lumix 100-300mm lens

All together  I have grouped the smaller formats together as they have to some extent a common purpose. This has been to provide the imager for compact cameras and superzooms, with numerous variations of each type. The smaller sensor size allows designers to create cameras with a fixed, non interchangeable, zoom lens and either very small size or a very great zoom range. Given that compact digital cameras are being swept away by the roaring tide of phone cams, we are left with superzoom, all purpose cameras as the main raison d'être of small sensors.  

Interchangeable lenses, boon or burden ?   I read somewhere but now forget the reference, that for every camera capable of taking interchangeable lenses, the makers sell 1.5 lenses. Given that some enthusiasts have many lenses, it follows that most owners buy the camera with one zoom lens and leave it on the camera permanently. Most people really don't want to be bothered with changing lenses.

 My dream camera  I am one of those who change lenses only because I must do so to get the results which I seek. My dream camera would have a fixed zoom lens with a diagonal angle of view ranging from 100 degrees at the wide end to 4 degrees at the long end.   This is equivalent to a focal length of 18mm-610mm in 24x36mm format and 9-305mm in M43 format.  This is a 34x zoom range starting very wide at the short end. It would need to have an aperture not smaller than f2.8 at any focal length. Image quality would be equivalent to a DXO Mark score of 75. It would have a fully articulated monitor, a high quality EVF and excellent ergonomics.

Of course such a paragon of photographic capability does not presently exist but might it be possible in the near future ?

Big Surf. Lumix GH3, Lumix 100-300mm lens.

 

What's on offer ?

2/3" 6.6x8.8/11mm   Fuji uses this sensor size in it's X10/20 compacts and, of more interest to my quest for the dream camera, the X-S1 superzoom model. This has a 26x f 2.8-5.6 zoom ranging from 84-4 degrees diagonal angle of view. This is a moderately large camera weighing 920 grams but it is very much more compact than an ILC model with 3 or 4 interchangeable lenses. The X-S1 is actually not such a long journey from my ideal. The lens is two stops slower than f2.8 at the long end, the short end is not as wide as I would like and the DXO Mark score is 50. At least DXO marked the X10, which uses the same sensor, at 50.   If the lens were to meet my criteria it would be very large indeed and probably unmarketable. So barring some dramatic new lens making discovery we need to look at a smaller sensor size, bearing in mind that lens size is largely determined by sensor size.

1/1.7"  5.6x7.5/9.36mm (and variations)  This size is very popular for advanced compacts such as the Lumix LX7, Canon G series and several others.  Strangely I have not been able to find a superzoom camera using this sensor size. Which is odd because I have an idea that this size might be the largest which could provide a lens meeting my requirements but with marketably compact dimensions. Best DXO Mark score for this sensor size as I write is 54 (Nikon P330) which seems to me to be within reach of a 20 point boost [equivalent to 1.3 stops better noise performance] over the next year or few.

Pentax offers  the Q series cameras with interchangeable lenses using this sensor size from the latest iteration. This is undoubtedly cute and comes in "120 color combinations" according to the promotional literature. But the point of the Pentax  Q  as a camera somewhat escapes me. If they put a wide range zoom on the thing it wouldn't need interchangeable lenses at all.

1/2"  4.8x6.4/8mm  This sensor size is used by Fuji on it's HS series superzooms and  F770/800 EXR long zoom compacts.

1/2.3"  4.5x6.2/7.72mm (and variations)  This size is used on most compacts and superzoom cameras. The Panasonic Lumix FZ200  is one of the more interesting because it's lens is a constant f2.8 from a diagonal angle of view of 80 degrees at the short end to 4.1 degrees at the long end. This almost meets my criteria. The other features of this camera come close too, including a fully articulated monitor and built in EVF. The big letdown is of course it's image quality which at DXO Mark 37 is almost three stops short of my desired level.

Summary So it seems my ideal camera is not yet within reach. But if some clever maker does produce a camera meeting my admittedly taxing specifications, I expect the entire interchangeable lens camera industry will go down the drain faster than you can count to ten.

Do the camera makers really want that ??

Now there's a thought.................