Does Sensor Size Matter? Four Different Sized Camera Sensors Compared

On this video photographers, Jay P. Morgan and Kenneth Morgan (from the Slanted Lens) compare 4 different common sensor sizes from different cameras to see how they perform in different types of shooting scenarios.

Does larger always mean better when it comes to sensor sizes? at least from this video it seems that for the most part the answer is yes. The video shows several different tests looking at the detail level, colors and dynamic range as well as sensitivity to understand how much of a difference there really is between a medium format sensor, full-frame, APS-C and micro 4/3 sensors on some of the top cameras on the market today.

The Morgans look at the performance difference between the Hasselblad X1D II 50C, Sony a7R IV, Sony a6600, and Panasonic GH5 and the results are very interesting. From our perspective there seem to big a pretty big gap in details and dynamic range between the Hasselblad X1D II 50C & Sony a7R IV and the two smaller sensor cameras (a6600 and GH5). The GH5 seems to really break apart in some of the tests (mind you that this camera and sensor are more oriented towards video anyway) while the A6600 gives O.K. results for non-professional work.

For professional work, landscape, architecture, or even modeling work especially for large prints a larger sensor really shines and this is something that you will be able to see when looking closely at prints. Of course if your main work is published online on social networks than all this nitpicking is completely irrelevant but if you are selling prints or working for printed magazines – getting at least a high res FF camera makes a lot of sense.

All this isn’t really surprising. What is still somewhat open to debate is the difference between a camera like the Hasselblad X1D II 50C and the Sony a7R IV. While Sony has the edge in resolution the difference in sensor means that the actual detail level is very close and the Hasselblad has better colors and better dynamic range. Will these differences in image quality justify the price difference of the camera (the Hasselblad X1D II 50C currently sells for almost twice the cost of the A7R IV) and lenses (Hasselblad lenses are typically much more expensive) is much harder to determine and it really depends on the specific work that you might be doing and how much these differences are worth to you.

Our sensor size table*

*Some sensor types have different sizes (there are many sizes of Medium format sensors and a couple of APS-C sizes).

You can check out more of the videos from our photography gear guides section here on LensVid, and you can find all of Jay P. Morgan’s videos here on LensVid on the following link.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.