Kodak EasyShare Z700 vs. Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS (2024)

Sensor size is generally a good indicator of the quality of the camera. Sensors can vary greatly in size. As a general rule, the bigger the sensor, the better the image quality.

Bigger sensors are more effective because they have more surface area to capture light. An important factor when comparing digital cameras is also camera generation. Generally, newer sensors will outperform the older.

Learn more about sensor sizes »

Actual sensor size

Note: Actual size is set to screen → change »

Surface area:

Difference: 3.62 mm² (15%)

ELPH 100 HS sensor is approx. 1.15x bigger than Z700 sensor.

Note: You are comparing sensors of very different generations. There is a gap of 6 years between Kodak Z700 (2005) and Canon ELPH 100 HS (2011). Six years is a lot of time in terms of technology, meaning newer sensors are overall much more efficient than the older ones.

Pixel pitch tells you the distance from the center of one pixel (photosite) to the center of the next. It tells you how close the pixels are to each other.

The bigger the pixel pitch, the further apart they are and the bigger each pixel is. Bigger pixels tend to have better signal to noise ratio and greater dynamic range.

Pixel or photosite area affects how much light per pixel can be gathered. The larger it is the more light can be collected by a single pixel.

Larger pixels have the potential to collect more photons, resulting in greater dynamic range, while smaller pixels provide higher resolutions (more detail) for a given sensor size.

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Pixel density tells you how many million pixels fit or would fit in one square cm of the sensor.

Higher pixel density means smaller pixels and lower pixel density means larger pixels.

Kodak Z700

Canon ELPH 100 HS

Diagonal is calculated by the use of Pythagorean theorem:

where w = sensor width and h = sensor height

The diagonal of Z700 sensor is not 1/2.5 or 0.4" (10.2 mm) as you might expect, but approximately two thirds of that value - 7.19 mm. If you want to know why, see sensor sizes.

w = 5.75 mm
h = 4.32 mm

The diagonal of ELPH 100 HS sensor is not 1/2.3 or 0.43" (11 mm) as you might expect, but approximately two thirds of that value - 7.7 mm. If you want to know why, see sensor sizes.

w = 6.16 mm
h = 4.62 mm

Surface area is calculated by multiplying the width and the height of a sensor.

Width = 5.75 mm
Height = 4.32 mm

Surface area = 5.75 × 4.32 = 24.84 mm²

Width = 6.16 mm
Height = 4.62 mm

Surface area = 6.16 × 4.62 = 28.46 mm²

Pixel pitch is the distance from the center of one pixel to the center of the next measured in micrometers (µm). It can be calculated with the following formula:

Sensor width = 5.75 mm
Sensor resolution width = 2306 pixels

Sensor width = 6.16 mm
Sensor resolution width = 4011 pixels

The area of one pixel can be calculated by simply squaring the pixel pitch:

Pixel area = pixel pitch²

You could also divide sensor surface area with effective megapixels:

Pixel pitch = 2.49 µm

Pixel area = 2.49² = 6.2 µm²

Pixel pitch = 1.54 µm

Pixel area = 1.54² = 2.37 µm²

Pixel density can be calculated with the following formula:

One could also use this formula:

Sensor resolution width = 2306 pixels
Sensor width = 0.575 cm

Pixel density = (2306 / 0.575)² / 1000000 = 16.08 MP/cm²

Sensor resolution width = 4011 pixels
Sensor width = 0.616 cm

Pixel density = (4011 / 0.616)² / 1000000 = 42.4 MP/cm²

Sensor resolution is calculated from sensor size and effective megapixels. It's slightly higherthan maximum (not interpolated) image resolution which is usually stated on camera specifications. Sensor resolution is used in pixel pitch, pixel area, and pixel density formula. For sake of simplicity, we're going to calculate it in 3 stages.

1. First we need to find the ratio between horizontal and vertical length by dividing the former with the latter (aspect ratio). It's usually 1.33 (4:3) or 1.5 (3:2), but not always.

2. With the ratio (r) known we can calculate the X from the formula below, where X is a vertical number of pixels:

3. To get sensor resolution we then multiply X with the corresponding ratio:

Resolution horizontal: X × r
Resolution vertical: X

Sensor width = 5.75 mm
Sensor height = 4.32 mm
Effective megapixels = 4.00

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 1734 × 1.33 = 2306
Resolution vertical: X = 1734

Sensor resolution = 2306 x 1734

Sensor width = 6.16 mm
Sensor height = 4.62 mm
Effective megapixels = 12.10

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 3016 × 1.33 = 4011
Resolution vertical: X = 3016

Sensor resolution = 4011 x 3016

Crop factor or focal length multiplier is calculated by dividing the diagonal of 35 mm film (43.27 mm) with the diagonal of the sensor.

Sensor diagonal in mm = 7.19 mm

Sensor diagonal in mm = 7.70 mm

Crop factor = 6.02
Aperture = f2.9 - f4.9

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f2.9 - f4.9) ×6.02 = f17.5 - f29.5

Crop factor = 5.62
Aperture = f2.8 - f5.9

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f2.8 - f5.9) ×5.62 = f15.7 - f33.2

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