Question about Full vs Crop Sensor Cameras

[480sparky]

.....Plus, the aperture size number is based on DISTANCE from the FP to the Focal AREA. (The film or sensor). so the numbers are the same because the MOUNTING distance is the same on a FF v Crop.........

And this can readily be observed by taking two lenses of different focal lengths and setting them to the same aperture. Set them side-by-side so you can see through both, and the opening created by the aperture blades will be different sizes.

 

[Ysarex]

The shooting environment is a huge part of it. For example in most living rooms with a full frame camera the 85 mm lens is OK for portraits. In most living rooms with a crop frame camera, an 85 mm lens is extremely tight. For example at 20 feet with a full frame camera and 85 mm lens, you get a picture that is 8.47 feet tall; with a crop frame camera you have to be about 35 feet away to get the same 8.47 foot tall picture area. So let's say you wish to do a bridal portrait of a standing couple and leave a little bit of room below the feet and a little bit above the head,an easily-achievable end result with a full frame camera and 85 mm lens, but extremely difficult in many houses with a crop frame camera and an 85 mm lens. Yes the 70 to 200 mm zoom lens is an extremely useful lens on the full frame camera, but on the crop frame camera The same lens is extremely difficult to use in many smaller rooms

Yep. Local fashion photog here converted an old funeral home into his studio. The rooms were large to begin with but he took out a wall between two of them so he could shoot models using a 250mm lens. You do what you have to do if that's what it takes to get the photo and you can charge $1250 per half day shoot.

Joe

 

[crzyfotopeeple]

This has to be one of the most asinine arguments in photography.

 

[crzyfotopeeple]

Whatever type or model of guitar someone were to provide, you cannot play like Stevie Ray Vaughn.

 

[480sparky]

This has to be one of the most asinine arguments in photography.

It's not an 'argument'. It's a misconception, confusion, misunderstanding....

 

[crzyfotopeeple]

This has to be one of the most asinine arguments in photography.

It's not an 'argument'. It's a misconception, confusion, misunderstanding....

Yeah, point taken. Argument is the wrong choice of words. I probably should have said this topic. It just seems like beating a dead horse. You can probably search and find countless threads on this forum alone discussing the exact same thing. Not to mention the countless youtube videos.

 

[Derrel]

This has to be one of the most asinine arguments in photography.

No not really an asinine argument, since there are many practical applications based upon The actual cameras in question. For example the Nikon D5… It is a professionally oriented full frame camera designed for action, whereas the D 500 is priced much more affordably, but is also designed for action. In consumer Nikons the D7200 is quite affordable now, after being at the top of the current consumer crop body camera heap for several years and the Nikon D610 would be the full frame counterpart. I really don't think this argument is asinine,as you say, but rather imminently a practical argument,based around practicalities. A crop frame camera takes 95% of the lenses Nikon has ever made and turns them into something they were never designed to be.

Full frame cameras and APS-C cameras are very different performers when used indoors with a 70 to 200 mm zoom, or indoors with a 50 mm lens, and so on. I shot APS-C from 2001 to 2007 or so, and ever since then I have owned at least one full frame digital single lens reflex. Based upon the lenses offered by Pentax, Canon, and Nikon, the crop frame camera has really been relegated to second-tier status. These three companies really have never offered a good selection of lenses to leverage their cameras that were built with smaller than traditional sensors. The entire 35 mm ethos was built around the image being roughly 24 x 36 mm in size and proportion. Literally decades of lens development was geared toward making cameras that would use a capture size that was 24 x 36mm. Traditional lens lengths such as 20 mm, 24 mm,28 mm,35 mm, 50 mm, 85 mm 100 mm, 135 mm, 180 mm, 200 mm, 300mm, and a wide range of zoom lenses, were all designed to be used best on cameras with 24 x 36 mm Capture size. There have only been a handful of high-quality and I mean really high-quality professional-grade lenses designed by these three manufacturers for their small sensor cameras. The big three traditional camera companies have made it clear that they are operating a two-tier system. For example most APS-C cameras are sold as a kit with an 18 to 55 mm "Kit zoom" that is priced right around $100. How much does a 24 to 70 mm F2.8 zoom sell for these days? $2200 to $2499? And how much does a well-respected third-party lens manufacturers 24 to 70 mm f/2.8
zoom lens retail for? $1200 or so?

If for example I have a 24 mm lens and put it on a Nikon D 7200 I have one type of lens; if however I put the same 24 mm lens on the Nikon D850 I have an entirely different type of lens.I see nothing ass in line in the above facts, I see nothing asinine in the above facts,but they do see a wide range of practical decisions that must be made.

 

[crzyfotopeeple]

I can post pictures taken with a crop or full frame and the difference is indistinguishable. Full frame cameras have a crop mode, problem solved. If you can't afford full frame buy a crop and the necessary lenses and go take pictures. No matter which you choose it will not improve your photography that is determined by the person holding said camera. Price (which the gap is lessening) is the only consideration between full vs crop, end of story.

 

[crzyfotopeeple]

I have a full frame camera now because I can afford it. When I started in photography I had a crop camera because it was what I could afford at the time. Is the full frame more versatile? I would say yes. Is the hobby of photography more fun because I have a full frame camera? Absolutely not. I have felt creative and enjoyed the experience no matter what the camera. It is the place, the feeling the enjoyment of photography that matters. Enjoy what you have and what you can afford.

 

[photoflyer]

It just seems like beating a dead horse.

True but there many who are new to the forum every day and they usually find more recent threads. When one is just starting out, understanding crop vs. full frame is very important. The manufacturers don't educate on this subject so it is up to us.

 

[crzyfotopeeple]

It just seems like beating a dead horse.

True but there many who are new to the forum every day and they usually find more recent threads. When one is just starting out, understanding crop vs. full frame is very important. The manufacturers don't educate on this subject so it is up to us.

Fair enough, that makes sense. However, I think it is misleading to try and come up with any reasons other than price to buy crop over full frame. IMO this is what makes this discussion pointless.

 

[Derrel]

Fuji is one of the very few camera makers that has seen a problem that exists in the other brands. Fuji has made a whole series of lenses that are good equivalents for the traditional focal lengths that have been used in 35mm photography since the 1930s.

I think this has been a huge part of the success of Fuji digital cameras, as much as the cool looking retro style of the cameras they offer.

 

[Derrel]

If you would like to have access to 99% of 60 million Nikon lenses that have been made since roughly 1959, and you would like to have these lenses perform as they were designed to perform, then you want to buy a full frame camera. If you just want pictures,you can spend 350 bucks and purchase an entry-level Nikon D3400
And the Kit zoom.

I have made some pretty darn good pictures with my iPhone 4, and with my iPhone SE. For that matter I made a few good pictures with a 1958 Ricohflex Super, and with a 1938 Argoflex. The camera does not matter that much, but to say that a Mercedes is the same thing as a Kia is disingenuous at best. A Prius and a Tesla are both electric cars and they're both equal right?

 

[crzyfotopeeple]

I have made some pretty darn good pictures with my iPhone 4, and with my iPhone SE.

If you are looking at them on a small computer screen. Enlarged or printed the quality is horrid.

 

[crzyfotopeeple]

A Prius and a Tesla are both electric cars and they're both equal right?

A Prius is not an electric car BTW