What type of sensor offers better image quality, CMOS or CCD?
CCDs offer better *inherent* image quality; CMOS sensors are cheaper to manufacture–in the long run. CCDs don’t have a lot of support built into the sensor, so they are inherently less noisy (less electrical interference); CMOS sensors require a lot of supporting electronics on the sensor, and this makes them have more noise BUT significantly cheaper to manufacture, once costs have been made up. However, once you factor in the supporting chips off the sensor, CMOS sensors and CCD sensors become equal in image quality. These supporting chips are what keeps CMOS cameras expensive. The supporting chips process the signal from the sensor, eliminating noise and producing good images. As you can see, both Nikon and Canon, for example, use CMOS sensors in their cameras (but in Nikon’s case, not all of them–the Nikon D40 and D60 have CCDs). Today, it’s not an issue whether a camera has CMOS or CCD sensors. All things being equal, the output from the cameras is virtually identical. What matte
