Xiaomi 13 Ultra is better than it looks. How Sony and Samsung are deceiving us

Late last week, Sony announced the IMX858 sensor, which became the basis for all additional cameras on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra.

Then we came across a strange thing on Weibocorrespondence between leak finder Digital Chat Station and his commentator with the nickname “The best lazy sheep in the world.” The dialogue began with a post from DCS: “I don’t understand some of Sony’s actions. IMX858 is calculated using the 18mm diagonal standard, so it is 1/2.51″. And before that, IMX586 used a 16mm diagonal standard. If the standard were the same, the size would be 1/2.25″.” The sheep replied: “If more than 1/2″, press 16. Everything else counts as 18.” To which DCS countered: “It looks like it, but this implementation will make people think that the gap is very large, when in fact it is only 25%.”

If you do not understand anything, then you are not alone - weSame. But we decided to sort it out. So, as you probably already know, camera sizes are measured in Vidicon inches, which are not equal to ordinary ones. What are they equal to? No one knows. You will not find an article about the Vidicon inch on Wikipedia, you will not find it in reference books of physical quantities. No standard defines what this Vidicon inch of yours is. Often they write on the Internet that it is equal to 15.86 mm, but, as they say, a lot of things are also written on the fence. In general, the absence of any standards leads to the fact that manufacturers are free to manipulate this parameter as they please. And they manipulate, and in a very strange way.

Sony and Samsung really useVidicon inch equal to 15.86 mm, but only when designating sensors whose diagonal is at least half that inch (7.93). But if the sensor is smaller, they suddenly start thinking that a Vidicon inch is 18mm. This is roughly what the sheep explained in her comment. It turns out that small sensors turn out to be even smaller in characteristics - which makes it possible to advantageously highlight large sensors. If we use 15.86 as the value of a Vidicon inch, then the new Sony sensor will indeed not be 1/2.51″, but somewhat “larger” - 1/2.25″. Well, the legendary Samsung JN1 from 1/2.76″ turns into 1/2.43″. That is, they are not that much smaller than IMX586 and GM1 (1/2″).

These are the times.

© Oleg Lazarev.

Based on Digital Chat Station / The Best Lazy Sheep In The World