16:9 Resolution
And Me.....

Just when you thought you had the 80 Lines per megahertz thing down for your old camera, we throw 16:9 images at you and change all the rules.  In most of the newer cameras the 16:9 image sensor is the same size as the 4:3 sensor. Both the dedicated 16:9 and dedicated 4:3 sensors are 2/3 inch in size and have an 11mm diagonal.  Any 2/3 inch lens will work; you don't have to have a special 16:9 lens.  The main difference between the sensors is the lines per megahertz.  Instead of the nominal 80 lines, the 16:9 sensor has roughly 60 lines per megahertz.  This is due to its much wider aspect ratio. You can think of it as the 16:9 sensor bandwidth (lines per mhz) as being roughly 75 % of a 4:3 sensor.  This all begins to sound kind of depressing if you think that a 16:9 has less resolution than a 4:3 sensor.  But the reality is that 700 lines at 16:9 are roughly the equivalent of 930 lines at 4:3.  In other words, the actual resolution is higher than that of standard 4:3 cameras, because the 16:9 sensor usually has 800 lines.  In the actual picture, there is no noticeable visual resolution difference between a dedicated 2/3 inch 16:9 sensor camera and a dedicated 2/3 inch 4:3 sensor camera.  Actually, in the case of the DXC-D30WS in 16:9 mode (930 TVL/ph 4:3 equivalent), the resolution is greater than the DXC-D30 (only 850 TVL/ph).  The D30WS, as with many other dedicated 16:9 sensors, when switched to 4:3 mode, exhibits roughly 700 TV lines.  (This is because Sony, in essence, simply crops the sides.)  With the DXC-D30WS in 4:3 at 700 TV lines vs. the 850 from the DXC-D30 dedicated 4:3, there may be some very minor visible resolution difference of extremely fine detail.  You may notice it on a high line-count resolution chart, but probably not in real life shooting situations, depending on your subject and how you shoot it.  I suggest you try it yourself in both a real life situation and in the camera lab with a resolution chart.  I believe the results will convince you that 16:9 is the way of the future.

*Some of the Math:          

2/A X La = Lines per MHz

A = aspect ratio
La = active line - time in microseconds

For 4:3
2/1.333 X 53.3 usec = 79.96 Lines per MHZ
A = aspect ratio
La = active line - time in microseconds

For 16:9
2/1.778 X 53.3 usec = 59.95 Lines per MHz
Camera Dave

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