What is Pixel Pitch?

Glossary Definition

Pixel pitch is the distance between two adjacent pixels in the sensor, measured from pixel center to pixel center.

A smaller pixel pitch provides greater resolution when using a fixed sensor size (1/2.8" or 35mm). For sensors that are the same resolution however, a decreased pixel pitch means decreased sensor size, which also means that smaller optics can be used.

The drawback of a smaller pixel pitch is that each pixel has a smaller area and thus receives less light/energy. For thermal cameras, this in turn reduces the effective detection range. Ultimately, the performance of a sensor depends more on the pixel design than the pixel size.