Originally posted by Dariusz Canon's sensors were always great, and still are. I still consider them as an advantage over others, although advantage not as significant as it used to be.
A decade ago, when everyone was using "colourful" CCDs in their cameras of all sorts and "precise" CMOSes only in their top of the range devices, Canon was installing their marvellous CMOSes even in their entry level SLRs. This was a huge advantage over others IMO. Today everyone seems to use CMOS everywhere, SONY sensors became really good and the difference between "Canon and the world" in sensors' universe is not that obvious anymore
Hello Dariusz,
That sounds suspiciously like something you read on a Canon forum. Unfortunately, practically nobody in the world of independent testing agrees, including DxOMark. In fact, Canon-made sensors are often cited as the weakest part of their cameras, not nearly equal to the best Sonys. I've even seen posts from Canon users asking the maker to switch to Sonys for exactly that reason.
And the reason most cameras now use CMOS sensors is because they are much cheaper to manufacture, require less expensive machining for production and use substantially less battery power for image-capturing. Which is probably why Canon initially used them for their entry level cameras.
You might want to Google 'CMOS and CCD Sensors' and click on a couple of links.
Ron