What is the crop factor of the Sony A850?

The Sony Alpha A850 is equipped with a full frame sensor, whose diagonal measures 43.2mm. The sensor has a crop factor (or format factor, or focal length multiplier) of 1.0.

The crop factor is defined as the ratio of the 35mm full-frame film diagonal to the diagonal of a digital sensor. This number indicates how a lens behaves in relation to the size of the image sensor.

Sensor size comparison with a film slide

With a crop factor of 1.0, the sensor in the Sony A850 has a similar size as a 35mm film slide or negative. As a result, a lens that is attached to the Sony A850 will offer the same angle of view and provide the same depth of field as a lens of the same focal length and aperture on a film camera.

Sensor specs and performance

The table below compares the sensor specs of the Sony A850 to those of several similar cameras. The reported DXO values are indicators of the sensor's imaging quality (higher is better), covering color depth (DXO Portrait), dynamic range (DXO Landscape), and high-ISO noise (DXO Sports). Larger sensor cameras tend to outperform cameras of the same generation that are equipped with a smaller imager. On the other hand, larger sensors are more expensive and require bigger and heavier lenses than smaller light receptors.

Sensor Characteristics

		Camera Model	Sensor Class	Resolution (MP)	Horiz. Pixels	Vert. Pixels	Video Format	DXO Portrait	DXO Landscape	DXO Sports	DXO Overall
1.		Sony A850	Full Frame	24.4	6048	4032	none	23.8	12.2	1415	79
2.		Nikon D750	Full Frame	24.2	6016	4016	1080/60p	24.8	14.5	2956	93
3.		Sony A7	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	1080/60p	24.8	14.2	2248	90
4.		Sony A7 II	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	1080/60p	24.9	13.6	2449	90
5.		Sony A7 III	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	4K/30p	25.0	14.7	3730	96
6.		Sony A7C	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	4K/30p	25.0	14.7	3407	95
7.		Sony A9	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	4K/30p	24.9	13.3	3517	92
8.		Sony A77	APS-C	24.0	6000	4000	1080/60p	24.0	13.2	801	78
9.		Sony A99	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	1080/60p	25.0	14.0	1555	89
10.		Sony A99 II	Full Frame	42.2	7952	5304	4K/30p	25.4	13.4	2317	92
11.		Sony A900	Full Frame	24.4	6048	4032	none	23.7	12.3	1431	79

In the United States, the A850 was initially launched in August 2009 at a price of $1,999.

Check A850 offers at
ebay.com

Camera to camera comparisons

In case you are interested in seeing how this camera compares to another one, just make your choice using the following search menu. Alternatively, you can follow any of the listed hyperlinks for comparisons that others found interesting.

~

Did you notice an error on this page? If so, please get in touch, so that we can correct the information.

You are here:  Home  »  Sony A850 Review  »  Sony A850 Crop Factor