Some sensors sizes are listed as some form of inch, for example a sensor size of 1″ or 2/3”. The diagonal size of this sensor is actually only 0.43” (11mm). Cameras sensors of the “inch” type do not signify the actual diagonal size of the sensor. These sizes are actually based on old video cameras tubes where the inch measurement referred to the out diameter of the video tube.
The world use to use vacuum tubes for a lot of things, i.e. far beyond just the early computers. Video cameras like those used on NASA’s unmanned deep space probes like Mariner used vacuum tubes as their image sensors. These were known as vidicon tubes, basically a video camera tube design in which the target material is a photoconductor. There were a number of branded versions, e.g. Plumicon (Philips), Trinicon (Sony).

These video tubes were described using the outside diameter of the overall glass tube, and always expressed in inches. This differed from the area of the actual imaging sensor, which was typically two-thirds of the size. For example, a 1″ sized tube typically had a picture area of about 2/3″ on the diagonal, or roughly 16mm. For example, Toshiba produced Vidicon tubes in sizes of 2/3″, 1″, 1.2″ and 1.5″.
These vacuum tube based sensors are long gone, yet some manufacturers still use this deception to make tiny sensors seem larger than they are.
Image sensor | Image sensor size | Diagonal | Surface Area |
---|---|---|---|
1″ | 13.2×8.8mm | 15.86mm | 116.16mm2 |
2/3″ | 8.8×6.6mm | 11.00mm | 58.08mm2 |
1/1.8” | 7.11×5.33mm | 8.89mm | 37.90mm2 |
1/3” | 4.8×3.6mm | 6.00mm | 17.28mm2 |
1/3.6″ | 4.0×3.0mm | 5.00mm | 12.00mm2 |
For example, a smartphone may have a camera with a sensor size of 1/3.6″. How does it get this? The actual sensor will be approximately 4×3mm in size, with a diagonal of 5mm. This 5mm is multiplied by 3/2 giving 7.5mm (0.295″). 1” sensors are somewhere around 13.2×8.8mm in size with a diagonal of 15.86mm. So 15.86×3/2=23.79mm (0.94″), which is conveniently rounded up to 1″. The phrase “1 inch” makes it seem like the sensor is almost as big as a FF sensor, but in reality they are nowhere near the size.

Supposedly this is also where MFT gets its 4/3 from. The MFT sensor is 17.3×13mm, with a diagonal of 21.64mm. So 21.64×3/2=32.46mm, or 1.28″, roughly equating to 4/3″. Although other stores say 4/3 is all about the aspect ratio of the sensor, 4:3.