If the lens serves as the "eye" of a camera, the image sensor acts as its "digital negative" and constitutes the core of image formation.

This chip covered with tiny photosensitive elements captures light passing through the lens, converts it into electrical signals, and ultimately generates the digital images we view. There are two primary types of image sensors: CMOS and CCD. Nowadays, CMOS has become the overwhelmingly dominant solution thanks to its lower power consumption, faster readout speed and high level of integration. Its core specifications are sensor size and pixel count.

Generally speaking, with a similar total pixel count, a larger sensor size means a bigger light-sensitive area for each individual pixel, stronger light-capturing capability, and superior performance in image quality, detail reproduction and noise suppression. For this reason, the sensor lays the fundamental hardware foundation for image quality, marking the starting point of every high-quality captured image.