Sensor USA - Photography Terms & Glossary

Glossary Of Photography Terms [1]

Sensor In photography, a sensor refers to the electronic component within a digital camera that captures and converts light into digital signals to create digital images. The sensor serves as the digital equivalent of photographic film in traditional film cameras, capturing and recording the image data projected onto it by the camera's lens. Digital camera sensors come in various types and sizes, including CCD (charge-coupled device) sensors and CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) sensors, each with its own advantages and characteristics.

The sensor size, resolution, sensitivity, and dynamic range play crucial roles in determining the image quality, low-light performance, and overall performance of a digital camera. Larger sensors typically produce higher-quality images with better low-light performance and greater dynamic range compared to smaller sensors. Camera sensors are composed of millions of individual photosensitive pixels arranged in a grid pattern, with each pixel capturing and recording the intensity of light falling on it. The image data captured by the sensor is then processed and stored in digital image files, such as JPEG or RAW, for further editing, sharing, or printing.