Canon PowerShot S200 DIGITAL ELPH vs. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1

Comparison

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Canon PowerShot S200 DIGITAL ELPH

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1

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Megapixels

2.00

12.10

Max. image resolution

1600 x 1200

4000 x 3000

Sensor

Sensor type

CCD

CMOS

Sensor size

1/2.7" (~ 5.33 x 4 mm)

1/1.7" (~ 7.53 x 5.64 mm)

Sensor resolution

1631 x 1226

4027 x 3005

Diagonal

6.66 mm

9.41 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	:	1.99
(ratio)

Canon PowerShot S200 DIGITAL ELPH		Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1

Surface area:

21.32 mm²

42.47 mm²

Difference: 21.15 mm² (99%)

LF1 sensor is approx. 1.99x bigger than S200 DIGITAL ELPH sensor.

Note: You are comparing sensors of vastly different generations. There is a gap of 11 years between Canon S200 DIGITAL ELPH (2002) and Panasonic LF1 (2013). Eleven years is a huge amount of time, technology wise, resulting in newer sensor being much more efficient than the older one.

Pixel pitch

3.27 µm

1.87 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: 1.4 µm (75%)

Pixel pitch of S200 DIGITAL ELPH is approx. 75% higher than pixel pitch of LF1.

Pixel area

10.69 µm²

3.5 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: 7.19 µm² (205%)

A pixel on Canon S200 DIGITAL ELPH sensor is approx. 205% bigger than a pixel on Panasonic LF1.

Pixel density

9.36 MP/cm²

28.6 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: 19.24 µm (206%)

Panasonic LF1 has approx. 206% higher pixel density than Canon S200 DIGITAL ELPH.

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

Specs

Canon S200 DIGITAL ELPH

Panasonic LF1

Crop factor

6.5

4.6

Total megapixels

2.10

12.80

Effective megapixels

2.00

12.10

Optical zoom

7.1x

Digital zoom

Yes

ISO sensitivity

Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400

Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, (12800 with boost)

RAW

Manual focus

Normal focus range

57 cm

50 cm

Macro focus range

10 cm

3 cm

Focal length (35mm equiv.)

35 - 70 mm

28 - 200 mm

Aperture priority

Yes

Max. aperture

f2.8 - f4.0

f2 - f5.9

Max. aperture (35mm equiv.)

f18.2 - f26

f9.2 - f27.1

Metering

Multi, Center-weighted, Spot

Exposure compensation

±2 EV (in 1/3 EV steps)

Shutter priority

Yes

Min. shutter speed

15 sec

250 sec

Max. shutter speed

1/1500 sec

1/4000 sec

Built-in flash

External flash

Viewfinder

Optical (tunnel)

Electronic

White balance presets

Screen size

1.5"

Screen resolution

118,000 dots

920,000 dots

Video capture

Max. video resolution

Storage types

Compact Flash (Type I)

SD/SDHC/SDXC

USB

USB 1.0

USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec)

HDMI

Wireless

GPS

Battery

Canon Lithium-Ion

Lithium-Ion

Weight

250 g

192 g

Dimensions

87 x 57 x 27 mm

102.5 x 62.1 x 27.9 mm

Year

2002

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 S200 DIGITAL ELPH diagonal

The diagonal of S200 DIGITAL ELPH sensor is not 1/2.7 or 0.37" (9.4 mm) as you might expect, but approximately two thirds of that value - 6.66 mm. If you want to know why, see sensor sizes.

w = 5.33 mm
h = 4.00 mm

Diagonal = √

5.33² + 4.00²

= 6.66 mm

Panasonic LF1 diagonal

The diagonal of LF1 sensor is not 1/1.7 or 0.59" (14.9 mm) as you might expect, but approximately two thirds of that value - 9.41 mm. If you want to know why, see sensor sizes.

w = 7.53 mm
h = 5.64 mm

Diagonal = √

7.53² + 5.64²

= 9.41 mm

Surface area

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

S200 DIGITAL ELPH sensor area

Width = 5.33 mm
Height = 4.00 mm

Surface area = 5.33 × 4.00 = 21.32 mm²

LF1 sensor area

Width = 7.53 mm
Height = 5.64 mm

Surface area = 7.53 × 5.64 = 42.47 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

S200 DIGITAL ELPH pixel pitch

Sensor width = 5.33 mm
Sensor resolution width = 1631 pixels

Pixel pitch =	5.33	× 1000	= 3.27 µm
	1631

LF1 pixel pitch

Sensor width = 7.53 mm
Sensor resolution width = 4027 pixels

Pixel pitch =	7.53	× 1000	= 1.87 µm
	4027

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

S200 DIGITAL ELPH pixel area

Pixel pitch = 3.27 µm

Pixel area = 3.27² = 10.69 µm²

LF1 pixel area

Pixel pitch = 1.87 µm

Pixel area = 1.87² = 3.5 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

S200 DIGITAL ELPH pixel density

Sensor resolution width = 1631 pixels
Sensor width = 0.533 cm

Pixel density = (1631 / 0.533)² / 1000000 = 9.36 MP/cm²

LF1 pixel density

Sensor resolution width = 4027 pixels
Sensor width = 0.753 cm

Pixel density = (4027 / 0.753)² / 1000000 = 28.6 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

S200 DIGITAL ELPH sensor resolution

Sensor width = 5.33 mm
Sensor height = 4.00 mm
Effective megapixels = 2.00

r = 5.33/4.00 = 1.33

X = √	2.00 × 1000000	= 1226
	1.33

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 1226 × 1.33 = 1631
Resolution vertical: X = 1226

Sensor resolution = 1631 x 1226

LF1 sensor resolution

Sensor width = 7.53 mm
Sensor height = 5.64 mm
Effective megapixels = 12.10

r = 7.53/5.64 = 1.34

X = √	12.10 × 1000000	= 3005
	1.34

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 3005 × 1.34 = 4027
Resolution vertical: X = 3005

Sensor resolution = 4027 x 3005

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

S200 DIGITAL ELPH crop factor

Sensor diagonal in mm = 6.66 mm

Crop factor =	43.27	= 6.5
	6.66

LF1 crop factor

Sensor diagonal in mm = 9.41 mm

Crop factor =	43.27	= 4.6
	9.41

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).

S200 DIGITAL ELPH equivalent aperture

Crop factor = 6.5
Aperture = f2.8 - f4.0

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f2.8 - f4.0) × 6.5 = f18.2 - f26

LF1 equivalent aperture

Crop factor = 4.6
Aperture = f2 - f5.9

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f2 - f5.9) × 4.6 = f9.2 - f27.1

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