Full Frame or Crop Sensor Camera, Which One Is Right for You?
Full Frame cameras, crop senor cameras, DX or FX APC or APC-S, what does it all mean?
Before digital came along film camera had a standard size of 35 mm film, that was the size of the film roll. Nowadays referred to as full frame camera in the digital world where the image sensor is 24 mm x 36 mm, Nikon and Cannon both have 35mm body D4, 1DX 5k Mark III D800 just to mention a few.
From 1996 a smaller sensor size was introduced APC (Advance Photo system). But this was not well received by professionals and did not make an impact on the photographic world. Later on an APC-S senor was introduced. with an image sensor size which was 16 mm x 24 mm. Referred to as a "crop Sensor" which is basically half the size of a full frame sensor. As this sensor is now a lot cheaper to produce,The majority of consumer cameras now contain the crop sensor. Full frame camera are consider to be professional grade. Nikon and Cannon are making cheaper full frame cameras which are now becoming more accessible to the masses.
There are really 3 main difference between the formats. firstly there is a magnification factor. A 50 mm lens on a full frame body is 50 mm. A 50 mm lens on crop senor camera becomes 75 mm. Both Nikon and Cannon have slightly different magnification. On the Nikon the crop factor is 1.5 on Cannon its 1.6. If your a wildlife or sports photography this can be beneficial as a 300 mm lens becomes a 450 mm lens on Nikon body, giving the photography that extra reach
Secondly the Lens play a big part in the quality of your pictures. On a Nikon, FX lens are for full frame body's but can be used on Crop sensor body's. DX lens are for crop sensor body's, normally these can't be used on 35 mm cameras. Because the Crop sensor only use the center of the lens's this is normally the sweet spot in the lens and usually the sharpest part as well. FX lens are also a lot more expensive than DX lens normally due to better build quality and image quality.
Lastly because of the larger sensor, 35 mm cameras are better for low light photography. I own both a full fame and a crop sensor camera. With the full Frame Nikon D 600 images are still usable up to ISO 3200. The crop sensor D 7000 you can really start to see grain in the images from ISO 800 and above. Software can correct this to a degree but then you start to lose image sharpness.
So in reality if your into wildlife or sports photography the crop sensor is the idea choice taking into account he crop factor. For low light photography wedding or event photography where you need large apertures and fastest shutter speeds then full frame camera would be your best option.
Before digital came along film camera had a standard size of 35 mm film, that was the size of the film roll. Nowadays referred to as full frame camera in the digital world where the image sensor is 24 mm x 36 mm, Nikon and Cannon both have 35mm body D4, 1DX 5k Mark III D800 just to mention a few.
From 1996 a smaller sensor size was introduced APC (Advance Photo system). But this was not well received by professionals and did not make an impact on the photographic world. Later on an APC-S senor was introduced. with an image sensor size which was 16 mm x 24 mm. Referred to as a "crop Sensor" which is basically half the size of a full frame sensor. As this sensor is now a lot cheaper to produce,The majority of consumer cameras now contain the crop sensor. Full frame camera are consider to be professional grade. Nikon and Cannon are making cheaper full frame cameras which are now becoming more accessible to the masses.
There are really 3 main difference between the formats. firstly there is a magnification factor. A 50 mm lens on a full frame body is 50 mm. A 50 mm lens on crop senor camera becomes 75 mm. Both Nikon and Cannon have slightly different magnification. On the Nikon the crop factor is 1.5 on Cannon its 1.6. If your a wildlife or sports photography this can be beneficial as a 300 mm lens becomes a 450 mm lens on Nikon body, giving the photography that extra reach
Secondly the Lens play a big part in the quality of your pictures. On a Nikon, FX lens are for full frame body's but can be used on Crop sensor body's. DX lens are for crop sensor body's, normally these can't be used on 35 mm cameras. Because the Crop sensor only use the center of the lens's this is normally the sweet spot in the lens and usually the sharpest part as well. FX lens are also a lot more expensive than DX lens normally due to better build quality and image quality.
Lastly because of the larger sensor, 35 mm cameras are better for low light photography. I own both a full fame and a crop sensor camera. With the full Frame Nikon D 600 images are still usable up to ISO 3200. The crop sensor D 7000 you can really start to see grain in the images from ISO 800 and above. Software can correct this to a degree but then you start to lose image sharpness.
So in reality if your into wildlife or sports photography the crop sensor is the idea choice taking into account he crop factor. For low light photography wedding or event photography where you need large apertures and fastest shutter speeds then full frame camera would be your best option.
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