I simply do not understand how photo sensors work. I'm talking about the ones in digital cameras. They basically take the light and form that into a code so the computer can read it right? But I don't get how this all happens. Like I read somewhere that a photo sensor contains millions of pixels, but I thought the sensor chip was just made out of silicon? And I keep reading that a sensor's job is to take electrical charges and convert them into pixels...huh? Where do electrons come in when taking a photo of light? I keep reading different things, and I've been here sitting on my a** reading article after article only to get more and more confused...
I'm sorry that I am super ignorant on this topic. I am really bad when it comes to wavelengths, energy, and all that stuff, so please explain it to me in language that like a 5th grader could understand if you have some spare time to help me out..
also, could you clarify to me what this quote means :
According to an article entitled “Sensors Explained,” “as the charge output from each location is proportional to the intensity of light falling onto it, it becomes possible to reproduce the scene as the photographer originally saw it.” (WhatDigitalCamera.com).
Thanks for reading, any help is appreciated!
EDIT: Thanks for all the help everyone!! I am truly grateful that you took the time out of you day to help me out!
A photo sensor is made of silicon in same way as for example a CPU. Thus, it consists of a large number of interconnected parts. In the case of a photo sensor most of these parts are so called photosites, which are arranged in a grid structure forming the pixels of the sensor. These photosites are essentially small solar cells and can convert light into electricity, i.e., electrons. These then get read out and converted into numbers, which in turn make up the final image. Color is created by putting color filters in front of some of the pixels so they are only sensitive to light of a certain color.
Edit: Check out this photo of the edge of a photo sensor. You can clearly see the grid structure of the individual pixels and the color filters.
The sentence just means that the more light hits a photosite, the more electrons are produced. The charge of the photosite, which is nothing but a fancy word for "a bunch of electrons", is then read out and more measured charge implies that the photosite received more light. As we cannot measure the light directly, we use the number of electrons measured in each photosite instead as it corresponds to the amount of light received.