Vivitar ViviCam 5386 vs. Canon PowerShot ELPH 180

Comparison

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Vivitar ViviCam 5386

Canon PowerShot ELPH 180

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Megapixels

5.00

20.00

Max. image resolution

2560 x 1920

5152 x 3864

Sensor

Sensor type

CCD

Sensor size

1/2.5" (~ 5.75 x 4.32 mm)

1/2.3" (~ 6.16 x 4.62 mm)

Sensor resolution

2579 x 1939

5158 x 3878

Diagonal

7.19 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	:	1.15
(ratio)

Vivitar ViviCam 5386		Canon PowerShot ELPH 180

Surface area:

24.84 mm²

28.46 mm²

Difference: 3.62 mm² (15%)

ELPH 180 sensor is approx. 1.15x bigger than 5386 sensor.

Note: You are comparing sensors of very different generations. There is a gap of 10 years between Vivitar 5386 (2006) and Canon ELPH 180 (2016). Ten years is a lot of time in terms of technology, meaning newer sensors are overall much more efficient than the older ones.

Pixel pitch

2.23 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: 1.04 µm (87%)

Pixel pitch of 5386 is approx. 87% higher than pixel pitch of ELPH 180.

Pixel area

4.97 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: 3.55 µm² (250%)

A pixel on Vivitar 5386 sensor is approx. 250% bigger than a pixel on Canon ELPH 180.

Pixel density

20.12 MP/cm²

70.11 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: 49.99 µm (248%)

Canon ELPH 180 has approx. 248% higher pixel density than Vivitar 5386.

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

Specs

Vivitar 5386

Canon ELPH 180

Crop factor

6.02

5.62

Total megapixels

20.50

Effective megapixels

20.00

Optical zoom

Yes

Digital zoom

Yes

ISO sensitivity

Auto

Auto, 100-1600

RAW

Manual focus

Normal focus range

5 cm

Macro focus range

1 cm

Focal length (35mm equiv.)

35 - 105 mm

28 - 224 mm

Aperture priority

Max. aperture

f3.2 - f6.9

Max. aperture (35mm equiv.)

n/a

f18 - f38.8

Metering

Centre weighted

Multi, Center-weighted, Spot

Exposure compensation

±2 EV (in 1/3 EV steps)

Shutter priority

Min. shutter speed

15 sec

Max. shutter speed

1/2000 sec

Built-in flash

External flash

Viewfinder

None

White balance presets

Screen size

2.5"

2.7"

Screen resolution

230,400 dots

Video capture

Max. video resolution

1280x720 (25p)

Storage types

Secure Digital

SD/SDHC/SDXC

USB

USB 1.1

USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec)

HDMI

Wireless

GPS

Battery

2x AA

NB-11LH lithium-ion battery

Weight

120 g

126 g

Dimensions

91 x 61 x 27 mm

95.2 x 54.3 x 22.1 mm

Year

2006

2016

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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

Vivitar 5386 diagonal

The diagonal of 5386 sensor is not 1/2.5 or 0.4" (10.2 mm) as you might expect, but approximately two thirds of that value - 7.19 mm. If you want to know why, see sensor sizes.

w = 5.75 mm
h = 4.32 mm

Diagonal = √

5.75² + 4.32²

= 7.19 mm

Canon ELPH 180 diagonal

The diagonal of ELPH 180 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.

5386 sensor area

Width = 5.75 mm
Height = 4.32 mm

Surface area = 5.75 × 4.32 = 24.84 mm²

ELPH 180 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

5386 pixel pitch

Sensor width = 5.75 mm
Sensor resolution width = 2579 pixels

Pixel pitch =	5.75	× 1000	= 2.23 µm
	2579

ELPH 180 pixel pitch

Sensor width = 6.16 mm
Sensor resolution width = 5158 pixels

Pixel pitch =	6.16	× 1000	= 1.19 µm
	5158

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

5386 pixel area

Pixel pitch = 2.23 µm

Pixel area = 2.23² = 4.97 µm²

ELPH 180 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

5386 pixel density

Sensor resolution width = 2579 pixels
Sensor width = 0.575 cm

Pixel density = (2579 / 0.575)² / 1000000 = 20.12 MP/cm²

ELPH 180 pixel density

Sensor resolution width = 5158 pixels
Sensor width = 0.616 cm

Pixel density = (5158 / 0.616)² / 1000000 = 70.11 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

5386 sensor resolution

Sensor width = 5.75 mm
Sensor height = 4.32 mm
Effective megapixels = 5.00

r = 5.75/4.32 = 1.33

X = √	5.00 × 1000000	= 1939
	1.33

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 1939 × 1.33 = 2579
Resolution vertical: X = 1939

Sensor resolution = 2579 x 1939

ELPH 180 sensor resolution

Sensor width = 6.16 mm
Sensor height = 4.62 mm
Effective megapixels = 20.00

r = 6.16/4.62 = 1.33

X = √	20.00 × 1000000	= 3878
	1.33

Resolution horizontal: X × r = 3878 × 1.33 = 5158
Resolution vertical: X = 3878

Sensor resolution = 5158 x 3878

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

5386 crop factor

Sensor diagonal in mm = 7.19 mm

Crop factor =	43.27	= 6.02
	7.19

ELPH 180 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).

5386 equivalent aperture

Aperture is a lens characteristic, so it's calculated only for fixed lens cameras. If you want to know the equivalent aperture for Vivitar 5386, take the aperture of the lens you're using and multiply it with crop factor.

Crop factor for Vivitar 5386 is 6.02

ELPH 180 equivalent aperture

Crop factor = 5.62
Aperture = f3.2 - f6.9

35-mm equivalent aperture = (f3.2 - f6.9) × 5.62 = f18 - f38.8

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