Garbz
No longer a newbie, moving up!
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I've heard a lot of talks about Full Frame vs APS sensors. Most of them while presenting a valid technical point have little impact in practical terms. I am wondering why would you want a full frame sensor, and there's a few arguments that I have heard.
Argument 1: No crop factor
Ok valid argument. Especially for people who use fisheye or other extreme wide angle lenses. Doesn't really affect me much since I am more inclined to want a 300mm lens than a 12mm anyway. Also for every shot where 18mm (27mm on my camera) isn't enough I am normally in a position to make a perfect panorama anyway.
Argument 2: Less Noise, more light etc.
This holds true in theory only. The sensors is part of a larger system where noise floor is determined not by the sensor technology itself but to the large part what's underneath it, like the layout of the amplifying transistors, the datapath used during readout etc. The D200's CCD sensor IMO has less noise than a 350D's CMOS (ok comparing apples to oranges) but it is the same thing as I hear in that debate.
So the other thing is pixels size. Larger pixels = more light. That only holds true assuming there's no technical advances made in the photo sensors themselves. After if the original premiss is true than in theory the Nikon D50 would significantly outperform my D200 noise wise (6mpx instead of 10 on the same sensor). This argument seems to be the reason people often recommend the Canon 5D (full frame = better) but does that mean the Canon 5D has a better sensor than the 1DMkIII? The photos I have seen say otherwise.
The debate often rears it's head in various Canon vs Nikon debates. Some say it is a "bad" move by Nikon to further develop the NikonDX sensor and build lenses for a sensor rather than take the far more expensive (reads economically sane) route of producing larger sized, lower yield sensors for standard 35mm lenses.
So someone, convince me. Why do we need 35mm sensors? Clearly the SLR world is crunching on just fine (constant improvements noise and qualitywise) with the much more economically produced APS sized sensor. If you don't like economics buy a Hassleblad
Argument 1: No crop factor
Ok valid argument. Especially for people who use fisheye or other extreme wide angle lenses. Doesn't really affect me much since I am more inclined to want a 300mm lens than a 12mm anyway. Also for every shot where 18mm (27mm on my camera) isn't enough I am normally in a position to make a perfect panorama anyway.
Argument 2: Less Noise, more light etc.
This holds true in theory only. The sensors is part of a larger system where noise floor is determined not by the sensor technology itself but to the large part what's underneath it, like the layout of the amplifying transistors, the datapath used during readout etc. The D200's CCD sensor IMO has less noise than a 350D's CMOS (ok comparing apples to oranges) but it is the same thing as I hear in that debate.
So the other thing is pixels size. Larger pixels = more light. That only holds true assuming there's no technical advances made in the photo sensors themselves. After if the original premiss is true than in theory the Nikon D50 would significantly outperform my D200 noise wise (6mpx instead of 10 on the same sensor). This argument seems to be the reason people often recommend the Canon 5D (full frame = better) but does that mean the Canon 5D has a better sensor than the 1DMkIII? The photos I have seen say otherwise.
The debate often rears it's head in various Canon vs Nikon debates. Some say it is a "bad" move by Nikon to further develop the NikonDX sensor and build lenses for a sensor rather than take the far more expensive (reads economically sane) route of producing larger sized, lower yield sensors for standard 35mm lenses.
So someone, convince me. Why do we need 35mm sensors? Clearly the SLR world is crunching on just fine (constant improvements noise and qualitywise) with the much more economically produced APS sized sensor. If you don't like economics buy a Hassleblad