I am not a expert in optical.
But I read that the optical intensity is either proportional to particle diameter to the 6 for particles smaller than 1 micron meter or particle diameter to the 2 for large particles; particle mass is the particle diameter to the 3 which is not what the intensity gives.
Thus, It doesn't make sense to discuss why the cheap sensors are not accurate for mass measurement, because they are not correlated fundamentally. Unless the particle distribution is monodisperse and keeping the same.