「1 英吋」感光元件,其晶片上用以感光的面積大約是 13.2 x 8.8mm,
對角線長度是 15.86mm。相比之下,1 英吋實際相等於 25.4mm,
較以上數字都要大一截!從這個例子就可以看出,「1 英吋」可算是個毫無意義的數字,
更加不用說「1/2.3 英吋」、「1/1.8 英吋」等令人摸不著頭腦的「小數分數」。
近來國外攝影媒體提倡以全新的命名方式來區分感光元件的不同尺寸。
These cathode-ray tubes in the early TV cameras are actually the reason why until today companies use the term 1-inch sensor. The bigger the diameter of the tube, the more light it could capture. A widely used diameter of the tubes was, you guessed it right, 1-inch. The important part – the “sensitive area” – of such a tube was around 0.63″ (15.9mm) in diameter. That is the actual physical diagonal of our modern 1-inch sensor.
早期电视相机,阴极管直径是1英寸,但是里面感光的范围只有13mmX8mm