HDSLR Sensor Formats

Video SLRs really came out of nowhere and delivered an image that had previously been limited to cameras costing 10 times as much.  This low cost also means working around issues like aliasing, moire, no on board sound, and ” jello effect” but thousands of shooters have found this to be an acceptable trade off.  What these HDSLRs offer that previous digital cinema cameras under $25,000 could not, are larger sensors that allow for much shallower depth of field and amazing low light performance.

If you are used to shooting on 1/3″ sensor cameras (HVX200) or 1/2″ format (EX-1) this chart shows how their sensors stack up to the HDSLRs:

Looking at this chart it is easy to see why it is harder to get shallow depth of field on the HVX200: you need an incredibly wide lens (the HVX200 lens is 4.2mm on the wide end) in order to get a wide shot on that tiny sensor. As we know, one of the few absolutes in the lens/sensor equation is that the wider you go the deeper your depth of field gets (at the same f-stop and distance to subject).

For more on depth of field and field of view equivalents read here: www.bitzinmotion.com/depth-field-view-equivalents

Further reading:

• Canon 7D Footage
• Canon T2i Footage

Disclaimer: sensor sizes are estimates as the actual size changes camera to camera.