Olympus C-900 Zoom vs. Nikon Coolpix S2900

Comparison

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Olympus C-900 Zoom

Nikon Coolpix S2900

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Megapixels

1.31

20.10

Max. image resolution

1280 x 960

5152 x 3864

Sensor

Sensor type

CCD

Sensor size

1/2.7" (~ 5.33 x 4 mm)

1/2.3" (~ 6.16 x 4.62 mm)

Sensor resolution

1319 x 992

5171 x 3888

Diagonal

6.66 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	:	1.33
(ratio)

Olympus C-900 Zoom		Nikon Coolpix S2900

Surface area:

21.32 mm²

28.46 mm²

Difference: 7.14 mm² (33%)

S2900 sensor is approx. 1.33x bigger than C-900 Zoom sensor.

Note: You are comparing sensors of vastly different generations. There is a gap of 17 years between Olympus C-900 Zoom (1998) and Nikon S2900 (2015). Seventeen years is a huge amount of time, technology wise, resulting in newer sensor being much more efficient than the older one.

Pixel pitch

4.04 µm

1.19 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: 2.85 µm (239%)

Pixel pitch of C-900 Zoom is approx. 239% higher than pixel pitch of S2900.

Pixel area

16.32 µm²

1.42 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: 14.9 µm² (1049%)

A pixel on Olympus C-900 Zoom sensor is approx. 1049% bigger than a pixel on Nikon S2900.

Pixel density

6.12 MP/cm²

70.47 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: 64.35 µm (1051%)

Nikon S2900 has approx. 1051% higher pixel density than Olympus C-900 Zoom.

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

Specs

Olympus C-900 Zoom

Nikon S2900

Crop factor

6.5

5.62

Total megapixels

20.48

Effective megapixels

20.10

Optical zoom

Yes

Digital zoom

Yes

ISO sensitivity

Auto

80–1600 (3200 when Auto)

RAW

Manual focus

Normal focus range

80 cm

50 cm

Macro focus range

20 cm

10 cm

Focal length (35mm equiv.)

35 - 105 mm

26 - 130 mm

Aperture priority

Max. aperture

f2.8 - f4.4

f3.2 - f6.5

Max. aperture (35mm equiv.)

f18.2 - f28.6

f18 - f36.5

Metering

Centre weighted

Multi, Center-weighted, Spot

Exposure compensation

±2 EV (in 1/2 EV steps)

±2 EV (in 1/3 EV steps)

Shutter priority

Min. shutter speed

1/2 sec

4 sec

Max. shutter speed

1/1000 sec

1/2000 sec

Built-in flash

External flash

Viewfinder

Optical

None

White balance presets

Screen size

1.8"

2.7"

Screen resolution

72,000 dots

230,000 dots

Video capture

Max. video resolution

1280x720 (30p/25p)

Storage types

SmartMedia

SD/SDHC/SDXC

USB

USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec)

HDMI

Wireless

GPS

Battery

4x AA

Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL19

Weight

350 g

119 g

Dimensions

127 x 67 x 53 mm

94.5 x 58.6 x 19.8 mm

Year

1998

2015

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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

Olympus C-900 Zoom diagonal

The diagonal of C-900 Zoom 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

Nikon S2900 diagonal

The diagonal of S2900 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.

C-900 Zoom sensor area

Width = 5.33 mm
Height = 4.00 mm

Surface area = 5.33 × 4.00 = 21.32 mm²

S2900 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

C-900 Zoom pixel pitch

Sensor width = 5.33 mm
Sensor resolution width = 1319 pixels

Pixel pitch =	5.33	× 1000	= 4.04 µm
	1319

S2900 pixel pitch

Sensor width = 6.16 mm
Sensor resolution width = 5171 pixels

Pixel pitch =	6.16	× 1000	= 1.19 µm
	5171

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

C-900 Zoom pixel area

Pixel pitch = 4.04 µm

Pixel area = 4.04² = 16.32 µm²

S2900 pixel area

Pixel pitch = 1.19 µm

Pixel area = 1.19² = 1.42 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

C-900 Zoom pixel density

Sensor resolution width = 1319 pixels
Sensor width = 0.533 cm

Pixel density = (1319 / 0.533)² / 1000000 = 6.12 MP/cm²

S2900 pixel density

Sensor resolution width = 5171 pixels
Sensor width = 0.616 cm

Pixel density = (5171 / 0.616)² / 1000000 = 70.47 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

C-900 Zoom sensor resolution

Sensor width = 5.33 mm
Sensor height = 4.00 mm
Effective megapixels = 1.31

r = 5.33/4.00 = 1.33

X = √	1.31 × 1000000	= 992
	1.33

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 992 × 1.33 = 1319
Resolution vertical: X = 992

Sensor resolution = 1319 x 992

S2900 sensor resolution

Sensor width = 6.16 mm
Sensor height = 4.62 mm
Effective megapixels = 20.10

r = 6.16/4.62 = 1.33

X = √	20.10 × 1000000	= 3888
	1.33

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 3888 × 1.33 = 5171
Resolution vertical: X = 3888

Sensor resolution = 5171 x 3888

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

C-900 Zoom crop factor

Sensor diagonal in mm = 6.66 mm

Crop factor =	43.27	= 6.5
	6.66

S2900 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).

C-900 Zoom equivalent aperture

Crop factor = 6.5
Aperture = f2.8 - f4.4

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f2.8 - f4.4) × 6.5 = f18.2 - f28.6

S2900 equivalent aperture

Crop factor = 5.62
Aperture = f3.2 - f6.5

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f3.2 - f6.5) × 5.62 = f18 - f36.5

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