D600 dx mode vs cropping

[ToddnTN]

Is there a difference between taking a pic in dx mode with a full frame lens and taking a full frame pic and then cropping in post?

 

[molested_cow]

Image quality wise, no, but may be the DX mode can let you shoot in higher burst rate... I don't know.

 

[480sparky]

FX cameras only have one while-shooting crop option..... DX mode. Cropping in post allows for a near infinite number of choices.

 

[Derrel]

FX cameras only have one while-shooting crop option..... DX mode. Cropping in post allows for a near infinite number of choices.

Ummm, that's not quite right...there are other crop modes available in some Nikon models. My camera body offers FX, 5:4 aspect ratio crop mode (AKA "eight by ten crop mode"), and also DX crop mode.

The 5:4 mode is very useful when the desired images will be 8x10 inch prints. Many people are aware that the normal 3:2 aspect ratio of 35mm film cameras and their derivatives is simply "too skinny", or "too wide" for many uses, and the 5:4 aspect ratio addresses that quite nicely.

 

[ToddnTN]

One of the reasons I have seen for going with dx over fx is that you get more reach with a given lens on dx than you do on fx, but if you can just crop a fx image to dx size then doesn't that give you the same reach? Or am I confused?

 

[480sparky]

FX cameras only have one while-shooting crop option..... DX mode. Cropping in post allows for a near infinite number of choices.

Ummm, that's not quite right...there are other crop modes available in some Nikon models. My camera body offers FX, 5:4 aspect ratio crop mode (AKA "eight by ten crop mode"), and also DX crop mode.

The 5:4 mode is very useful when the desired images will be 8x10 inch prints. Many people are aware that the normal 3:2 aspect ratio of 35mm film cameras and their derivatives is simply "too skinny", or "too wide" for many uses, and the 5:4 aspect ratio addresses that quite nicely.

Those are simply for aspect ratios, however. You don't lose pixels by using them as compared to shooting a full frame and cropping the image to the same aspect ratio in post.

 

[Benco]

One of the reasons I have seen for going with dx over fx is that you get more reach with a given lens on dx than you do on fx, but if you can just crop a fx image to dx size then doesn't that give you the same reach? Or am I confused?

Yes, but unless you've got a D800 you're sacrifying quite a bit of resolution compared to modern DX sensors, also (as Sparky said) you're limited to just the preset crops which the camera allows. If you are cropping a full frame image in post then you have complete freedom as to where to crop.

 

[ToddnTN]

One of the reasons I have seen for going with dx over fx is that you get more reach with a given lens on dx than you do on fx, but if you can just crop a fx image to dx size then doesn't that give you the same reach? Or am I confused?

Yes, but unless you've got a D800 you're sacrifying quite a bit of resolution compared to modern DX sensors, also (as Sparky said) you're limited to just the preset crops which the camera allows. If you are cropping a full frame image in post then you have complete freedom as to where to crop.

Gotcha, did not think about that. So basically the difference would be that the 7100's dx size has 24mp in it, and the D600's dx size would have something less than 24mp in it; 10.3MP from what I just read while typing this.

 

[oldhippy]

I'm not sure of all the variables, but I know I was very dissatisfied with pictures taken with a dx setting. on my D600 an FX lens gave me 10 MP, which was equivalent to my D60 . Just sayin Ed

 

[Benco]

One of the reasons I have seen for going with dx over fx is that you get more reach with a given lens on dx than you do on fx, but if you can just crop a fx image to dx size then doesn't that give you the same reach? Or am I confused?

Yes, but unless you've got a D800 you're sacrifying quite a bit of resolution compared to modern DX sensors, also (as Sparky said) you're limited to just the preset crops which the camera allows. If you are cropping a full frame image in post then you have complete freedom as to where to crop.

Gotcha, did not think about that. So basically the difference would be that the 7100's dx size has 24mp in it, and the D600's dx size would have something less than 24mp in it; 10.3MP from what I just read while typing this.

Exactly, for instance the 36MP D800 in DX mode would give a similar resolution to the 16MP D7000 so even the highest resolution FX camera in the world cannot give a DX crop that equals the 24MP DX models available now.

How important that degree of resolution is is a different discussion. To my mind the main issue is that when shooting with a full frame lens whether you want to let your camera crop the image, I don't see the point in doing that.