What is CCD chip ?
A CCD (charge coupled device) consists of several hundred thousand individual picture elements (pixels) on a tiny 1/2″, 1/3″, or 1/4″ chip. Each pixel responds to light falling on it hy storing a tiny charge of electricity. The pixels are arranged on a precise grid, with vertical and horizontal transfer registers carrying the signals to the camera’s video processing circuitry. This transfer of signals occurs sixty times per second. The 1/3″ CCD chip is the most widely used sensor format these days; its size is 5.5mm (diagonal), 4.4mm (horizontal) and 3.3mm (vertical). The 1/4″ sensor format, recently being used in color cameras, is 4mm (diagonal), 3.2mm (horizontal) and 2.4mm (vertical). The CCD chip’s Electronic Shutter plays a major role in making a fantastic and reliable picture. * A C-MOS (Complementary – Metal Oxide Semiconductor) chip, also a video image sensor, produces much lower quality picture than CCD chip.
