My simplest explanation, my friends, is that with more information you have more to work with and that is always a benefit if you can handle the load. Don’t be depressed or let down if you can’t afford larger sensors either. Like the best motivational speakers say ” Do what you can, with what you have!!”. If you can do your best with whatever equipment you have the chances are when you have bigger and better, you will appreciate it even more. More information (wider coverage and more sensors) also means you can work in lower light situations and be able to eliminate more noise.
I remember when I got my first Canon camera, I did not take the best care of it and I also did not know a lot about photography. The more you know the more precautions you take because you are more likely to realize the full value of any equipment you have. So what does having a larger sensor mean? Here is a press release from Canon to help you discover more and find your own answers. I encourage you to think outside the box.
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| The Kiso Observatory observation dome (Photographed with an ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor amid illumination of 0.1-0.3 lux) |
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| The ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor (left) alongside a 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor |
Here is an excerpt:
TOKYO, September 15, 2011—Canon Inc. today announced that an ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor developed by the company has enabled the video recording across a wide 3.3° x 3.3° field of view of meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10.*1 The sensor, with a chip size measuring 202 x 205 mm, the world’s largest*2 surface area for a CMOS sensor, was installed in the Schmidt telescope at the University of Tokyo’s Kiso Observatory, Institute of Astronomy, School of Science (Kiso-gun, Nagano prefecture).
With a chip size of 202 x 205 mm, the ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor, developed by Canon last year, is among the largest that can be produced from an approximately 300-mm (12 inch) wafer.*2 The device is approximately 40 times the size of Canon’s largest commercial CMOS sensor*3 and makes possible video recording in dark conditions with as little as 0.3 lux*4 of illumination. In January this year, the CMOS sensor was installed on the focal plane of the Kiso Observatory’s 105 cm Schmidt telescope and used to record video at approximately 60 frames per second, resulting in the successful video recording of faint meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 across a wide 3.3° x 3.3° field of view.
Detecting faint meteors with apparent magnitudes greater than 7 has proven difficult using conventional observation technologies, with sightings of meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 limited to only 10 per year. However, video recorded using the ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor, combined with the Schmidt telescope, which enables observation across a wide field of view, yielded a one-minute segment during which more meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 could be detected than could previously be identified during the span of a year.
Check out the full article here…
Just imagine what technology this is going to pave the way for in the future.