Canon PowerShot A5 Zoom vs. Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS30

Comparison

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Canon PowerShot A5 Zoom

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS30

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Megapixels

0.70

18.10

Max. image resolution

1024 x 768

4896 x 3672

Sensor

Sensor type

CCD

CMOS

Sensor size

1/3" (~ 4.8 x 3.6 mm)

1/2.3" (~ 6.16 x 4.62 mm)

Sensor resolution

964 x 725

4906 x 3689

Diagonal

6.00 mm

7.70 mm

Sensor size comparison

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 »

	vs
1	:	1.65
(ratio)

Canon PowerShot A5 Zoom		Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS30

Surface area:

17.28 mm²

28.46 mm²

Difference: 11.18 mm² (65%)

ZS30 sensor is approx. 1.65x bigger than A5 Zoom sensor.

Note: You are comparing sensors of vastly different generations. There is a gap of 14 years between Canon A5 Zoom (1999) and Panasonic ZS30 (2013). Fourteen years is a huge amount of time, technology wise, resulting in newer sensor being much more efficient than the older one.

Pixel pitch

4.98 µm

1.26 µm

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.

Difference: 3.72 µm (295%)

Pixel pitch of A5 Zoom is approx. 295% higher than pixel pitch of ZS30.

Pixel area

24.8 µm²

1.59 µm²

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.

Relative pixel sizes:

Pixel area difference: 23.21 µm² (1460%)

A pixel on Canon A5 Zoom sensor is approx. 1460% bigger than a pixel on Panasonic ZS30.

Pixel density

4.03 MP/cm²

63.43 MP/cm²

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.

Difference: 59.4 µm (1474%)

Panasonic ZS30 has approx. 1474% higher pixel density than Canon A5 Zoom.

To learn about the accuracy of these numbers, click here.

Specs

Canon A5 Zoom

Panasonic ZS30

Crop factor

7.21

5.62

Total megapixels

0.80

18.90

Effective megapixels

0.70

18.10

Optical zoom

2.5x

20x

Digital zoom

Yes

ISO sensitivity

100, 200, 400

Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600. 3200, 6400

RAW

Manual focus

Normal focus range

50 cm

Macro focus range

17 cm

3 cm

Focal length (35mm equiv.)

28 - 70 mm

24 - 480 mm

Aperture priority

Yes

Max. aperture

f2.6 - f4.0

f3.3 - f6.4

Max. aperture (35mm equiv.)

f18.7 - f28.8

f18.5 - f36

Metering

Multi, Center-weighted, Spot

Exposure compensation

±2 EV (in 1/3 EV steps)

Shutter priority

Yes

Min. shutter speed

2 sec

15 sec

Max. shutter speed

1/750 sec

1/2000 sec

Built-in flash

External flash

Viewfinder

Optical (tunnel)

None

White balance presets

Screen size

Screen resolution

120,000 dots

920,000 dots

Video capture

Max. video resolution

Storage types

Compact Flash

SD/SDHC/SDXC

USB

USB 1.0

USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec)

HDMI

Wireless

GPS

Battery

Canon NiMH

Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery

Weight

290 g

198 g

Dimensions

103 x 68 x 37 mm

108.3 x 58.9 x 27.7 mm

Year

1999

2013

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Diagonal

Diagonal is calculated by the use of Pythagorean theorem:

Diagonal = √

w² + h²

where w = sensor width and h = sensor height

Canon A5 Zoom diagonal

The diagonal of A5 Zoom sensor is not 1/3 or 0.33" (8.5 mm) as you might expect, but approximately two thirds of that value - 6 mm. If you want to know why, see sensor sizes.

w = 4.80 mm
h = 3.60 mm

Diagonal = √

4.80² + 3.60²

= 6.00 mm

Panasonic ZS30 diagonal

The diagonal of ZS30 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

Diagonal = √

6.16² + 4.62²

= 7.70 mm

Surface area

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

A5 Zoom sensor area

Width = 4.80 mm
Height = 3.60 mm

Surface area = 4.80 × 3.60 = 17.28 mm²

ZS30 sensor area

Width = 6.16 mm
Height = 4.62 mm

Surface area = 6.16 × 4.62 = 28.46 mm²

Pixel pitch

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:

Pixel pitch =	sensor width in mm	× 1000
	sensor resolution width in pixels

A5 Zoom pixel pitch

Sensor width = 4.80 mm
Sensor resolution width = 964 pixels

Pixel pitch =	4.80	× 1000	= 4.98 µm
	964

ZS30 pixel pitch

Sensor width = 6.16 mm
Sensor resolution width = 4906 pixels

Pixel pitch =	6.16	× 1000	= 1.26 µm
	4906

Pixel area

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 area =	sensor surface area in mm²
	effective megapixels

A5 Zoom pixel area

Pixel pitch = 4.98 µm

Pixel area = 4.98² = 24.8 µm²

ZS30 pixel area

Pixel pitch = 1.26 µm

Pixel area = 1.26² = 1.59 µm²

Pixel density

Pixel density can be calculated with the following formula:

Pixel density = (	sensor resolution width in pixels	)² / 1000000
	sensor width in cm

One could also use this formula:

Pixel density =	effective megapixels × 1000000	/ 10000
	sensor surface area in mm²

A5 Zoom pixel density

Sensor resolution width = 964 pixels
Sensor width = 0.48 cm

Pixel density = (964 / 0.48)² / 1000000 = 4.03 MP/cm²

ZS30 pixel density

Sensor resolution width = 4906 pixels
Sensor width = 0.616 cm

Pixel density = (4906 / 0.616)² / 1000000 = 63.43 MP/cm²

Sensor resolution

Sensor resolution is calculated from sensor size and effective megapixels. It's slightly higher than 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:

(X × r) × X = effective megapixels × 1000000 →

X = √	effective megapixels × 1000000
	r

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

Resolution horizontal: X × r
Resolution vertical: X

A5 Zoom sensor resolution

Sensor width = 4.80 mm
Sensor height = 3.60 mm
Effective megapixels = 0.70

r = 4.80/3.60 = 1.33

X = √	0.70 × 1000000	= 725
	1.33

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 725 × 1.33 = 964
Resolution vertical: X = 725

Sensor resolution = 964 x 725

ZS30 sensor resolution

Sensor width = 6.16 mm
Sensor height = 4.62 mm
Effective megapixels = 18.10

r = 6.16/4.62 = 1.33

X = √	18.10 × 1000000	= 3689
	1.33

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 3689 × 1.33 = 4906
Resolution vertical: X = 3689

Sensor resolution = 4906 x 3689

Crop factor

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.

Crop factor =	43.27 mm
	sensor diagonal in mm

A5 Zoom crop factor

Sensor diagonal in mm = 6.00 mm

Crop factor =	43.27	= 7.21
	6.00

ZS30 crop factor

Sensor diagonal in mm = 7.70 mm

Crop factor =	43.27	= 5.62
	7.70

35 mm equivalent aperture

Equivalent aperture (in 135 film terms) is calculated by multiplying lens aperture with crop factor (a.k.a. focal length multiplier).

A5 Zoom equivalent aperture

Crop factor = 7.21
Aperture = f2.6 - f4.0

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f2.6 - f4.0) × 7.21 = f18.7 - f28.8

ZS30 equivalent aperture

Crop factor = 5.62
Aperture = f3.3 - f6.4

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f3.3 - f6.4) × 5.62 = f18.5 - f36

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