Camera Nitty Gritty - part 10 - Sensor and Aperture sizes

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In this, part 10 of my (ahem) long running series, I look at the difference sensor and aperture size can make in phone cameras, for both stills and video. As real world examples of both good and bad, I use the Nokia N95 8GB and the 5800 XpressMusic. See below for links to other articles in the series.

In part 1 of this series, Steve Litchfield looked at exposed camera glass on some phone models and investigated whether scratches really make a difference. In part 2, he investigated the pros and cons of LED/dual-LED/Xenon flashes in camera phones - does Xenon or dual LED flash make that much difference? In part 3, he investigated the fabled 'Megapixel myth' with an objective eye. In part 4, he focussed on the difference between good and poor optics (at the same camera resolution) and in part 5, he pitched all the top smartphone cameras head to head, in detail. In part 6, AAS guest writer Dirk Snoyt took up the theme of camera phone flash research and got all technical on the theme of colours... In part 7, I returned with a look at the difference optical zoom makes and ask the question "Is it better to have optical zoom or just much higher resolution?" Part 8 looked at phone camera video capture potential and part 9 looked at video focussing differences in Nokia's Nseries.

In this, part 10, I look at the difference sensor and aperture size can make, for both stills and video.