APS-C CMOS image sensor. Photo: Friedrich Haag, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.What Is a Stacked CMOS Sensor? A stacked CMOS sensor is a type of image sensor in which the light-capturing pixel layer and…
Every digital camera turns light into an image using a sensor, but not every sensor reads that light out the same way. The two main approaches — rolling shutter and global shutter — decide whether…
The sub-$1000 mirrorless market in 2026 is the sweet spot for anyone who wants to move beyond a smartphone without taking on a four-figure body. You can now get flagship-grade autofocus, 10-bit video, and 26-megapixel…
Buying your first "real" camera is a milestone, and 2026 is a great time to make the leap. Mirrorless cameras have matured, autofocus is now fast enough to track a running pet without you thinking…
Scroll through the spec sheet of any modern camera or smartphone and you'll quickly run into the term "backside-illuminated" — or its acronym BSI. It sounds like marketing jargon, but it describes a genuine change…
Aperture is one of the three pillars of the exposure triangle, alongside shutter speed and ISO — but it does far more than control brightness. It is also the main creative dial for depth of…
Sony has officially entered the 200-megapixel race. On November 27, 2025, Sony Semiconductor Solutions unveiled the LYTIA 901 — originally introduced as the LYT-901 — a 1/1.12-type stacked CMOS sensor with roughly 200 effective megapixels.…
Samsung has taken the megapixel race in a new direction. Instead of chasing an ever-higher pixel count, the new ISOCELL HP5 squeezes 200 million pixels into a sensor built on the industry's smallest pixel —…
Open your phone's camera, switch to Portrait Mode, and photograph a friend. The result looks like it came from a professional: a razor-sharp face floating in front of a creamy, dreamy blur. That soft background…
Exposure is the foundation of every photograph, and three settings decide how bright or dark your image turns out: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Of the three, ISO is the one beginners most often misunderstand.…