In digital photography, the image sensor format is the shape and size of the image sensor. The image sensor format of a digital camera determines the angle of view of a particular lens when used with a particular sensor. Because the image sensors in many digital cameras are smaller than the 24 mm × 36 mm image area of full-frame 35 mm cameras, a lens of a given focal length gives a narrower field of view in such cameras. Sensor size is often expressed as optical format in inches. Other measures are also used; see table of sensor formats and sizes below. Lenses produced for 35 mm film cameras may mount well on the digital bodies, but the larger image circle of the 35 mm system lens allows unwanted light into the camera body, and the smaller size of the image sensor compared to 35 mm film format results in cropping of the image. This latter effect is known as field-of-view crop. The format size ratio (relative to the 35 mm film format) is known as the field-of-view crop factor, crop factor, lens factor, focal-length conversion factor, focal-length multiplier, or lens multiplier.
Sensor size and depth of field Three possible depth-of-field comparisons between formats are discussed, applying the formulae derived in the article on depth of field. The depths of field of the three cameras may be the same, or different in either order, depending on what is held constant in the comparison. Considering a picture with the same subject distance and angle of view for two different formats:
D O F 2 D O F 1 ≈ d 1 d 2 {\displaystyle {\frac {\mathrm {DOF} _{2}}{\mathrm {DOF} _{1}}}\approx {\frac {d_{1}}{d_{2}}}}
so the DOFs are in inverse proportion to the absolute aperture diameters d 1 {\displaystyle d_{1}} and d 2 {\displaystyle d_{2}} . Using the same absolute aperture diameter for both formats with the "same picture" criterion (equal angle of view, magnified to same final size) yields the same depth of field. It is equivalent to adjusting the f-number inversely in proportion to crop factor – a smaller f-number for smaller sensors (this also means that, when holding the shutter speed fixed, the exposure is changed by the adjustment of the f-number required to equalise depth of field. But the aperture area is held constant, so sensors of all sizes receive the same total amount of light energy from the subject. The smaller sensor is then operating at a lower ISO setting, by the square of the crop factor). This condition of equal field of view, equal depth of field, equal aperture diameter, and equal exposure time is known as "equivalence". And, we might compare the depth of field of sensors receiving the same photometric exposure – the f-number is fixed instead of the aperture diameter – the sensors are operating at the same ISO setting in that case, but the smaller sensor is receiving less total light, by the area ratio. The ratio of depths of field is then
D O F 2 D O F 1 ≈ l 1 l 2 {\displaystyle {\frac {\mathrm {DOF} _{2}}{\mathrm {DOF} _{1}}}\approx {\frac {l_{1}}{l_{2}}}}
where l 1 {\displaystyle l_{1}} and l 2 {\displaystyle l_{2}} are the characteristic dimensions of the format, and thus l 1 / l 2 {\displaystyle l_{1}/l_{2}} is the relative crop factor between the sensors. It is this result that gives rise to the common opinion that small sensors yield greater depth of field than large ones. An alternative is to consider the depth of field given by the same lens in conjunction with different sized sensors (changing the angle of view). The change in depth of field is brought about by the requirement for a different degree of enlargement to achieve the same final image size. In this case the ratio of depths of field becomes
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