Cameras, Digital, Photo History, Photography, Technology
by Vince Curletta

The Interesting, but Increasingly Rare CCD Sensor


I’m not sure of how true the reports are about the CCD sensor, but I was curious. Curios enough to find a couple older DSLR bodies – I will be experimenting (for this post, at least) with the Nikon D200 which was released by Nikon in 2005.

First, let me say that the D200 is a very nice camera. I would put it on par with the Canon 5D as far as feel and features, except that the 5D is a full frame CMOS sensor. I like the feel of the D200 in my hands; however, it does feel a bit heavy. I like the shutter sound, and the camera feels very solid and smooth when the shutter is fired. I feel like the weight of the camera makes it feel like I can hold it steadier when shooting. It actually has a very nice feel.

One other reason I wanted to try some of Nikon’s early digital cameras was to use some of the Nikon legacy lenses. I love Nikon’s manual focus lenses from the 1970’s – for my initial tests, I used a combination of lenses including the Nikkor 55mm f/1.2 AI, the Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 AIS, and the Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI.

Now, Nikon does something interesting regarding the lenses used. Whenever I mounted one of these older lenses, I had to register it on the camera body (menu option “Non-CPU Lens Data”) and tell the camera what the focal length and max aperture are. This allows the camera meter and the information displayed in the viewfinder to function accurately.

So, to the photos this camera, and it’s CCD sensor produce. I shot in RAW mode, and dumped out JPG images without any (or much) editing – just to see how the sensor rendered the colors.

I like the colors. They seem a little richer than I’m used to with my more modern CMOS sensor cameras. I’ve heard that CCD sensors are good in daylight, but struggle to produce good images in low light, and they consume more power than the modern CMOS sensors. I think these are some of the reasons we’ve moved away from CCD, but I do a lot of natural light and outdoor photography, so I like the results.

I wonder if anyone else has used a camera with a CCD sensor, and what you think. Do the colors look different? Are they better, or is there no difference? I read things in other people’s reviews, but I like to see for myself. I like the colors in the photos, but I’m not sure they look better to me – just slightly different. What do you think?