Trying to understand Phone Camera Pixel Size?

aserota

aserota

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Hi all,

Can someone please explain the following to me?

HTC claim they have an excellent camera on the flagship model the 'One.' From the link below, they claim it has 'Ultra Pixels' which I understand to be larger pixels then the smartphone competition and some very good compact (like the Canon S110) which makes the camera better in low light. They claim this is achieved by having a lower number of pixels on a sensor the same size (or even smaller) then other smartphones which allows the pixels to be larger in size and therefore capture more light, but with a smaller image size.

This confuses me as I always thought that the larger the sensor, the more data can be captured = better image. Is this marketing BS, or are they quite right on what they are stating? If so, then would an FF sensor with say 4 megapixels perform much better due to pixel size, then a FF camera with 24 megapixels; or is it a completely different technology that pushes a certain size of pixels onto a sensor? Basically, I don't have a clue and want to understand the subject more when people ask me questions on it!

HTC Page:
http://www.htc.com/www/zoe/ultrapixel-sensor-size/

Sensor Comparison Chart:
http://goo.gl/P918gU

Ta
 
I think there's an optimum pixel versus sensor size, if the pixels get too small in an attempt to cram more onto the sensor as they have done in phone cameras their closeness to each other creates noise that affects the image. There's only so much that can be done to combat noise in processing hence the optimum size v quantity. My dslr has 24mpx in a 1.5 crop sensor and that's pushing the boundaries for that size of sensor but it's still way better than 4mpx would be on a 1.5 crop because while 24mpx is right at the limit, 4mpx is far below the optimum.
 
aserota said:
HTC claim they have an excellent camera on the flagship model the 'One.'
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Yes. I have one and it is excellent for a phone camera.
aserota said:
I always thought that the larger the sensor, the more data can be captured = better image. Is this marketing BS, or are they quite right on what they are stating? If so, then would an FF sensor with say 4 megapixels perform much better due to pixel size, then a FF camera with 24 megapixels?
Click to expand...
You've been misled by the marketing people who have been pushing the idea that more megapixels = better. Think about it for a second. A standard HD display is 2 megapixels. You can make great prints of any size with 6 megapixels. The vast majority of camera owners will never need more than that.

A FF sensor with 4 megapixels *will* perform better, *if* you mean having better dynamic range, better low light capability etc. But those aspects of image quality are good enough with 20+ megapixel sensors, so there's no real benefit to using only 4 MP. With the tiny sensors in phone cameras, however, HTC have decided that the improvements they can get with fewer bigger pixels outweigh the disadvantages of having "only" 4 MP. I'm not going to say they're wrong.
 
Nikon do a mid range dslr with 24 mp (D7100), they have the D800 at £2k+ with 36mp and yet their flagship pro dslr at £4.5k (ish) has 16.2 mp. I think this confirms what StewartR is saying.
 
BBR said:
Nikon do a mid range dslr with 24 mp (D7100), they have the D800 at £2k+ with 36mp and yet their flagship pro dslr at £4.5k (ish) has 16.2 mp. I think this confirms what StewartR is saying.
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Much as I like people telling me I'm right, I don't think it's as simple as that. We've talked about the trade-off between image quality (high ISO performance, dynamic range etc) and imge size, but there are other factors that go into the mix.

On of them is speed, which affects the D4. It's an action camera and has to be blazingly fast, and basically it just wouldn't be possible to move enough data around to capture 36 megapixels at 11 frames per second. So the pixel count for this camera is driven primarily by speed considerations, not quality considerations.
 
One important factor which hasn't been mentioned is the lens. People seem to forget that 20mp sensor isn't as good coupled with a tiny pin prick of a lens on a phone as it is would be with an SLR lens or even more on a medium format lens on a camera such as a hasselblad.
 
Nala001 said:
One important factor which hasn't been mentioned is the lens. People seem to forget that 20mp sensor isn't as good coupled with a tiny pin prick of a lens on a phone as it is would be with an SLR lens or even more on a medium format lens on a camera such as a hasselblad.
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If you read the link I posted that talks about quality of lens too.
 
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