Digital sensor pixel size

[anerjee]

Caveat: I'm not technical, so maybe my question does not make sense.

I was reading a Roger Hicks article on ISO 400 film the other day in shutterbug, and he made a point that modern t-grain film has less latitude than classic emulsions due to the consistency of grain size (in t-grain films).

Does this apply to digital as well? I know Fuji has created a x-trans sensor which does not use a simple repeating pattern of the color filter array.

Has anyone tried building a sensor with different size pixels on the same chip? Would that improve digital sensor exposure latitude?

btw, I'm not sure where to post this, so feel free to move it.

 

[mansio]

correction for you, fuji's xtran sensor has a 6x6 pattern rather than the usual 2x2 bayer pattern.
link for it is here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilm-x-pro1/3

as for sensor pixel size, it's pretty much all physical property of that bigger the sensor = more light received = better iso/dynamic range performance.

you could look at comparisons of nikon d700 vs 5dmk2 or the 5dmk3 vs 800de

 

[Stdon]

The Nikon D1X has a very odd photo bucket shape and arrangement. 5 mps native but with software interpolates out to 10 very nicely.

At the time they came out the Nikon D3 then D700 had enormous photosites for the size of the sensor. Think of the bucket and water. The bigger the bucket the more water it can hold before overflowing than a smaller bucket.
Now that has changed as technology improves. My D800 and 800e have about 1 to1.5 stops depending in exposure range over the D700 I had which was the best thing out there for exposure range and low light hi ISO capabilities.

 

[mansio]

The Nikon D1X has a very odd photo bucket shape and arrangement. 5 mps native but with software interpolates out to 10 very nicely.

At the time they came out the Nikon D3 then D700 had enormous photosites for the size of the sensor. Think of the bucket and water. The bigger the bucket the more water it can hold before overflowing than a smaller bucket.
Now that has changed as technology improves. My D800 and 800e have about 1 to1.5 stops depending in exposure range over the D700 I had which was the best thing out there for exposure range and low light hi ISO capabilities.

imagine the technology on D800 is use on a 12mp sensor rather than 38 and i wonder how well low-light/DR performance it could get 🙄

 

[Contarama]

Look at the sensor in the Fuji S5 Pro. It has different sized pixels on the same chip. Yes it has some somewhat unique qualities.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . he made a point that modern t-grain film has less latitude than classic emulsions due to the consistency of grain size (in t-grain films).

Does this apply to digital as well? .. .

Not really. Bigger grains (in silver) = more sensitivity & less resolution (sharpness is a separate question). Bigger pixels = less amplification & less noise.

It is difficult and almost certainly pointless to make a sensor with different pixel sizes, so I think (I don't know enough to answer your question for sure) that the answer is as given above. I would however welcome elucidation.

Or I may of course have misunderstood the question. It's late here in France and last week (Mon-Fri) I drove over 1500 miles to Arles (to take down our Rencontres exhibitions) and Spain.

Cheers,

R.