Originally posted by biz-engineer Digital formats stop around 33x44mm, 40x54mm, while film formats extended to 8x10 inches and even larger. On the other hand, tiny sensors in smartphones are very popular. Why is it so? Is probably only in the camera business that modern equipment didn't surpass century old film technology?
Space.
You need a certain distance between lens and sensor in order to get a big sensor. Smart phones have a big incentive to be very thin, which by necessity means small sensor. Some cameras have a little bump-out for the camera lens, but it's still not a lot. But it's good enough for social media, which is the main consumer of photos.
Originally posted by photoptimist First, silicon is probably the most expensive real estate on the planet. If a semiconductor maker can get say $10 for a smartphone sensor that is 24 sq mm (that's $38,700 per sq ft), how much would they want to charge for making a 4"x5" sensor (13,000 sq mm)? In contrast, Kodak got really good at slathering the dozen some-odd layers of a color film emulsion onto a wide roll of polymer filmbase (probably costing only a few bucks per sq ft).
You really need to think about price per photo, not price per sq. ft.
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Originally posted by BarryE Aren't the cameras we've already got good enough to take first rate photos?
Probably explains why many cameras still on the market were designed 5+ years ago. Most technology (tablets, phones, computers) would not be relevant at that age.
But there are new features that can be incorporated. I would have liked bluetooth on my camera for instance, for remote shutter control and possibly for the phone to operate as remote viewfinder. Also, not sure what's going on with HDR in the K-70, first tests give a cartoony result, totally unusable. That should be fixed.
I've also read about a multiple sensor format that allows you to set the bokeh in post-production. Probably not compatible with existing lens though... it's been a while since I read about that, can't remember the technical details.