CCD vs. CMOS? What's the difference? Which one is better?

Question

CCD vs. CMOS? What's the difference? Which one is better? I notice that most cameras use CMOS, only Leica M9 uses CCD, so I'm guessing CCD is better?

Answer 1

These answers are close. The most important thing to take away is that one isn't necessarily better than the other. CCD tends to be more uniform and have better fidelity in good light, and CMOS tends to be much more sensitive in low light. But both types of sensors take outstanding shots.



The "Jelly effect" is known by photographers and video tech as "rolling shutter," and it exists on both CCD and CMOS sensors with low-bandwidth connections to their processing circuitry. It's possible to make a CMOS chip that can capture every pixel simultaneously, but this makes the chip much more expensive. Likewise, it's possible to make a CCD that exhibits rolling shutter. At work, I use the Vision Research Phantom, one of the fastest cameras in the world at 90,000 frames per second, and it has a CMOS sensor in it.



Leica makes a splended camera, and always has, but the Germans didn't invent either the CCD or the CMOS sensor. The only reason to choose a Leica over a Canon or Nikon is the lenses you want to use, unless you're ready to commit to black-and-white digital photography, as Leica makes the only such camera.

Answer 2

in this day and age, they are pretty much equal.



CCD sensors are more expensive to manufacture and do not have the "jelly effect" when shooting video, as well as have higher flash sync speeds.



My entry level Nikon D40 with a 6mp CCD sensor has a max sync speed of 1/400 or 1/500 (can't remember), whereas newer DSLRs only go up to 1/250 because of the CMOS sensor

Answer 3

Canon if I'm not mistaken also uses CCD. At the end of the day though, neither is better. They both have their own advantages and disadvantages.