How Do I Know If I Should Get Cmos Or Ccd In My Dslr?
September 14th, 2009 | 
Author: I have looked up the differences but most sites have extensive comparisons, I am looking for a simple answer
Below are my prioritized uses. I need a clean answer,
CMOS are best at ____
CCD are best at _____
their practical applications and situations?
Info on what i will use the camera for;
I am studying photography (in order of importance)
I take: Concert photography (action photographer); close-ups; portraits and fashions; landscapes, products for ads, catalogs, billboards, abstracts, and other fine-art subjects.
(below in no significant order)
pictures will be on print, web, photos, magazines, and 11″ x 17″ posters
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It’s academic, I think they are all CMOS now.
CMOS were initially prone to more noise as the signal was amplified at each pixel, where with CCDs the amplification was added later, generally meaning cleaner more consistent images.
The technology is now pretty well sorted. If you are wanting to do billboard and even 11×17 I would urge you to look carefully at full frame, the added resolution will be useful but in addition on smaller sensors diffraction can be more apparent, which will also show the larger the enlargement.
The Sony a900 or Canon EOS 5DMk2 are both good cameras with full frame and excellent resolution, the Nikon D700 has a great AF system but only 12MP.
Canon & Nikon have the best systems to buy into (for product shots you want a range that has tilt shift, various macros, for sport you want fast max aperture teles, Canon or Nikon can offer all of these things, Sony cant)
The 5DMk2 has a good AF system and 4fps shooting, it can’t compete with the Nikon for frame rate but it has the massive resolution.
Avoid any APS-C cameras with a resolution of more than 12.something. The diffraction and noise tend to over-ride any slight resolution benefits, but as I say, full frame is probably what you want.
There is no practical difference so far as the user is concerned. CMOS is cheaper to make so manufacturers are changing to them. IOW, don’t worry about it, concentrate instead on the features of the camera.
Just buy what you can get your hands on, I mean when I first went SLR hunting I was rather caught up in the “what is better cmos or ccd” but after going to the shops, checking my budget. I pretty much bought the camera that fit the budget. It has a ccd sensor and makes pretty nice pictures. http://www.dalsa.com/corp/markets/CCD_vs… < This is what I read.. and fun and well in the end the budget, the ergonomy and the handling was more important to me then what type the sensors was.
“Both CCDs and CMOS imagers can offer excellent imaging performance when designed properly. CCDs have traditionally provided the performance benchmarks in the photographic, scientific, and industrial applications that demand the highest image quality (as measured in quantum efficiency and noise) at the expense of system size. CMOS imagers offer more integration (more functions on the chip), lower power dissipation (at the chip level), and the possibility of smaller system size, but they have often required tradeoffs between image quality and device cost”
Out of that same source..
In the end both get the picture really.