Which P&S cameras have biggest CCD sensor?

Do all consumer digital cameras use the same sized sensor? If not,
does anyone know which brands or models offer the largest sensor
available in a p&s camera? I would be interested to do a little
research and find out if it made any difference to the image quality
versus some competitors.

Thanks.

"Abertech" wrote in message
...
Do all consumer digital cameras use the same sized sensor? If not,
does anyone know which brands or models offer the largest sensor
available in a p&s camera? I would be interested to do a little
research and find out if it made any difference to the image quality
versus some competitors.

Sensor sizes for P&S cameras are typically between 1/1.6" and 1/2.5". It
does make a difference to the image quality (better dynamic range, less
noise) although it's usually only noticable when using high ISOs.

There are some fixed-lens cameras which use a big sensor (same size as
entry-level DSLRs) but these are no simple P&S cameras because they're
either very big (Sony R1) or extremely expensive (Sigma DP1).

Abertech wrote:
Do all consumer digital cameras use the same sized sensor? If not,
does anyone know which brands or models offer the largest sensor
available in a p&s camera? I would be interested to do a little
research and find out if it made any difference to the image quality
versus some competitors.

I would recommend evaluating image quality
directly, rather than by proxy.

BugBear

Abertech wrote:
Do all consumer digital cameras use the same sized sensor? If not,
does anyone know which brands or models offer the largest sensor
available in a p&s camera? I would be interested to do a little
research and find out if it made any difference to the image quality
versus some competitors.

Sony made or makes one with the same APS-sized sensor used in DSLR.
The R1, if I recall correctly.

In article ,
GigaSurfer wrote:

There are some fixed-lens cameras which use a big sensor (same size as
entry-level DSLRs) but these are no simple P&S cameras because they're
either very big (Sony R1) or extremely expensive (Sigma DP1).

the r1 is discontinued and the dp1 is vaporware with no official price,
although it no doubt will not be competitive.

On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:10:10 -0800 (PST)
Abertech wrote:

Do all consumer digital cameras use the same sized sensor?

No.

If not,
does anyone know which brands or models offer the largest sensor
available in a p&s camera?

That's probably not the right question. For example, when Panasonic
replaced the FZ20 with the FZ30, they went from a 1/2.5" to a 1/1.8"
sensor. Naively computing the size ratio, you might have expected the
FZ30 to have about .72 the noise of the FZ20. In fact, the FZ30 appears
to have just a tad more noise than the FZ20. Part of the reason is
that the linear pixel density increased almost as much as the linear
sensor dimensions in the FZ30. The area of each pixel is almost exactly
the same in the two cameras.

A better question than sensor size, or even pixel size, would be, "Who
makes the lowest-noise P&S cameras?" Some of Fuji's designs stand out
here, as I recall.

I would be interested to do a little
research and find out if it made any difference to the image quality
versus some competitors.

It obviously makes a difference. Whether you think the difference is
significant is up to you. Review sites like www.dpreview.com publish
side-by-side comparison shots from competing models. Happy hunting.

Paul Allen