About the Sensor Size Comparison
This sensor size comparison tool puts two camera sensor formats side by side. Pick any two — medium format, full frame, APS-H, APS-C, Micro Four Thirds, 1-inch or small smartphone and compact sizes — or enter custom dimensions, and it shows each sensor’s width, height, diagonal, surface area and crop factor, how many times larger one is than the other, and the difference in stops of total light collected.
It is useful when you are choosing between camera systems, wondering how much better a full-frame body really is than APS-C, or translating lens focal lengths between formats. Enter a focal length and the tool tells you which lens on the second sensor gives the same framing, so you can compare lens kits fairly.
Dimensions are typical published active-area sizes; individual camera models differ by a few tenths of a millimetre, and phone sensors marketed with “inch” names (such as 1/2.3-inch) are much smaller than an inch because the names come from old video-tube sizes. A full table of all formats appears below the result.
With the default inputs, the sensor a area ÷ sensor b area is 2.36 ×. Change any value above to recalculate instantly.
How to use the sensor size comparison
- 1Choose the first sensor format (for example your current camera).
- 2Choose the sensor you want to compare against, or enter custom dimensions.
- 3Enter a focal length to translate it between the two formats.
- 4Read the area ratio, light-gathering difference and crop factors.
- 5Scroll to the table to compare every common format at once.
Formula and method
Each sensor’s area is width times height, and its diagonal comes from Pythagoras. The crop factor compares the diagonal with that of a 36 × 24 mm full-frame sensor (43.27 mm), so APS-C at 23.5 × 15.6 mm has a crop factor of about 1.53 and Micro Four Thirds about 2.0.
The area ratio tells you how much more total light a larger sensor collects at the same exposure (same f-stop and shutter speed), expressed in stops as the base-2 logarithm of the ratio. To match framing between formats, multiply the focal length on sensor A by its crop factor to get the full-frame equivalent, then divide by sensor B’s crop factor. Crop factor based on the diagonal is the industry convention; sensors with different aspect ratios (3:2 vs 4:3) will still frame slightly differently.
- w, h
- Sensor width and height (mm)
- Crop
- Crop factor relative to full frame
- f_A, f_B
- Focal lengths on sensors A and B with the same framing
Worked examples
Full frame vs APS-C (Nikon/Sony/Fujifilm)
Full frame is 864 mm² and APS-C is 23.5 × 15.6 = 366.6 mm², so full frame has 2.36× the area — about 1.24 stops more light. A 50 mm lens on full frame frames like 50 ÷ 1.534 ≈ 32.6 mm on APS-C.
Micro Four Thirds vs 1-inch
Micro Four Thirds (17.3 × 13 = 224.9 mm²) is about 1.94× larger than a 1-inch sensor (13.2 × 8.8 = 116.2 mm²). A 25 mm lens on MFT (50 mm equivalent) matches about 18.3 mm on a 1-inch camera.
Medium format 44 × 33 vs full frame
A 43.8 × 32.9 mm sensor is 1,441 mm², 1.67× full frame, or about 0.74 stop more light. Its 0.79 crop factor means a 63 mm lens frames like a 50 mm on full frame.
Frequently asked questions
How much bigger is full frame than APS-C?+
A full-frame sensor (36 × 24 mm) has about 2.3–2.4 times the area of APS-C (23.5 × 15.6 mm for Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm, 22.3 × 14.9 mm for Canon). That is roughly 1.2–1.3 stops more total light.
Why is a 1-inch sensor not one inch across?+
The names come from 1950s video camera tubes, where the outer glass diameter was measured. A “1-inch” sensor’s diagonal is only about 16 mm, and a 1/2.3-inch sensor is about 7.7 mm.
Is a bigger sensor always better?+
Larger sensors offer better low-light performance, wider dynamic range and shallower depth of field at the same framing, but cameras and lenses become larger, heavier and more expensive. Smaller formats give more reach for telephoto subjects.
What is the crop factor of Micro Four Thirds?+
Micro Four Thirds is 17.3 × 13 mm with a 21.6 mm diagonal, giving a crop factor of 2.0. A 25 mm lens therefore frames like a 50 mm lens on full frame.
How big is a smartphone camera sensor?+
Main phone cameras range from about 1/2.55-inch (roughly 5.6 × 4.2 mm) to 1-inch type (13.2 × 8.8 mm) in flagship models. Even the largest are a fraction of the area of APS-C.