Camera Sensor Sizes
To set the camera sensor width, use the drop down menu in the Camera Sensor.
A number of common camera sensor sizes are already included. At present, Previzion assumes a 16x9 sensor width ratio, although this will be expanded to handle new types of imagers.
The camera sensor width can be adjusted interactively by clicking on the value and entering a new number, or by clicking in the value box and dragging upward or downward. For finer grained control, hold down Control while clicking and dragging.
To save a sensor width, click Save Width. To create a new sensor name, click New Sensor. To delete the current sensor width, click Delete Sensor.
Sensor sizes are saved in the Previzion .ini configuration file, located at C:\Documents and Settings\Previzion\Application Data\Lightcraft.
Finding Sensor Size from SD Card
The actual dimensions of the imaging sensor are usually in the manual or specifications for higher end digital cinema cameras or professional video cameras. However, for many smaller cameras, these are difficult to find. Fortunately, an alternative method exists.
Most smaller prosumer type cameras have a SD card slot for storing still images. Still images taken on SD cards have a header that can be read with jhead, a command line tool.
Clicking on the above image will download a still image taken with a Canon XL H1 prosumer camcorder and stored on a SD card. To extract the CCD size information from the camera, place jhead.exe and the jhead_orig.jpg file in the same directory. From the Windows command line, type
jhead jhead_orig.jpg
jhead will generate the following data:
File name : IMG_0101.JPG
File size : 607760 bytes
File date : 2008:01:01 01:00:00
Camera make : Canon
Camera model : Canon XL H1A
Date/Time : : : : :
Resolution : 1920 x 1080
Flash used : No
Focal length : 5.4mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
CCD width : 5.23mm
Exposure time: 0.017 s (1/60)
Aperture : f/1.6
Whitebalance : Manual
Metering Mode: center weight
Exposure Mode: Manual
From this, we can determine that the Canon XL H1 sensor size is 5.23mm.