Pixel Pitch
The physical distance between the centers of two neighboring pixels on a sensor, measured in microns and derived from sensor width divided by horizontal pixel count. Tighter packing (a smaller number) means more resolution squeezed into the same physical sensor area; wider spacing means fewer, larger photosites.
Pixel pitch feeds directly into the NPF rule's astro shutter-speed math and has a secondary relationship to noise and dynamic range. See the pixel pitch answer page for real sensor examples and exact numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a larger pixel pitch always better for image quality?
Not universally — it generally helps low-light and noise performance at a fixed sensor-technology generation, but it's a direct tradeoff against resolution, since more megapixels at a given sensor size necessarily means smaller pitch.
Does pixel pitch alone determine a sensor's low-light performance?
No — sensor technology generation, readout electronics and processing all matter too. A newer sensor with a smaller pixel pitch can genuinely outperform an older sensor with larger pixels, so pitch alone is not a reliable standalone predictor of real-world noise performance.
How is pixel pitch different from resolution?
Resolution is the total pixel count; pixel pitch is how tightly those pixels are packed into the sensor's physical width. Two sensors can share identical resolution but differ in pixel pitch if their physical sizes differ.