What is the pixel pitch of the Sony A850?

The Sony Alpha A850 provides 24.4 megapixels from a full frame sensor. This pixel density gives rise to a size of the individual pixel of 5.94µm.

The pixel size or pixel pitch can be calculated by dividing the sensor area by the pixel count and then taking the square root. In particular, the sensor in the Sony A850 measures 35.9mm in width and 24.0mm in height, so that the total imaging area of the sensor amounts to 862 mm². Moreover, the A850 has 6 048 horizontal pixels and 4 032 vertical pixels, for a total of 24.4 megapixels. Then, the size (height or width) of each individual pixel can be calculated as the square root of the ratio of the sensor area (862 mm²) to the MP count (24 385 536).

Larger pixels provide advantages with respect to gathering light, particularly in low-light situations. Large pixels notably have a better signal to noise ratio, meaning that they can better differentiate between incoming photons and the noisy signals that the internal processes of the camera create. As a result, big pixels are particularly helpful to the photographer when shooting with high ISO settings.

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 A7C	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	4K/30p	25.0	14.7	3407	95
4.		Sony A7 III	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	4K/30p	25.0	14.7	3730	96
5.		Sony A9	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	4K/30p	24.9	13.3	3517	92
6.		Sony A99 II	Full Frame	42.2	7952	5304	4K/30p	25.4	13.4	2317	92
7.		Sony A7 II	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	1080/60p	24.9	13.6	2449	90
8.		Sony A7	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	1080/60p	24.8	14.2	2248	90
9.		Sony A99	Full Frame	24.0	6000	4000	1080/60p	25.0	14.0	1555	89
10.		Sony A77	APS-C	24.0	6000	4000	1080/60p	24.0	13.2	801	78
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.

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Camera to camera comparisons

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