Why Ever Invent Cropped Sensors?

[D-B-J]

I mean, other than them being cheaper to build (less size correlates to less money), why were cropped sensors ever invented. I mean, we started with 35mm film, now DX sensors, and recently, a movement back towards FX sensors. So what was the point?


Just curious,

Jake

 

[kundalini]

money, marketing and motivation to make more money

You shoot with an APS-C sensor camera, what is the point of your question? Buyers remorse? Penis envy of those that shoot full frame?

Exactly, what is the point.

 

[Trever1t]

lol, cheaper was/is the reason.

 

[IgsEMT]

Penis envy of those that shoot full frame?

:lmao:

 

[bigtwinky]

For some odd reason, i thought the first digital slrs had smaller sensors, and full frames came later as technology allowed us to have bigger sensors.But w/eWhy crops? The worlds obsession with making things more compact? Making things more affordable for the masses? Making more money by having people upgrade more?

 

[480sparky]

I'd say a full-frame sensor, back in the day when digital was in it's infancy, would be just too dang expensive.

 

[IgsEMT]

D-B-J, I think the better way to Ask the Q, coming from wedding/portrait photography: why MEDIUM FORMAT FILM, then Dx?
In fact, when I first went digital, all of the formals I was still shooting medium format while everything else digital.

 

[manaheim]

Cheaper to produce. Cheaper to produce lenses. More zoom.

End thread and next.

 

[Overread]

Eh the world of photography is full of different film/sensor sizes. You've cropped sensor, 35mm/fullframe, medium format, large format (the latter two made up of multiple different sizes not just fixed values).

Each size has its advantages and disadvantages, and (like it or not you art/gear perfectionists) costs are also a factor. As the tech advances certainly bigger sensors will cheapen to make them more affordable and with high MP sensors going the way they are chances are that cropping will oneday be even more suitable and we might well see the professional death of even 35mm in favour of larger formats (for the common photographer).

 

[D-B-J]

money, marketing and motivation to make more money

You shoot with an APS-C sensor camera, what is the point of your question? Buyers remorse? Penis envy of those that shoot full frame?

Exactly, what is the point.

Haha no, just curious.

 

[D-B-J]

And then i realized how much less glass it took to make a DX lens as opposed to a FX lens..

 

[KmH]

I mean, other than them being cheaper to build (less size correlates to less money), why were cropped sensors ever invented. I mean, we started with 35mm film, now DX sensors, and recently, a movement back towards FX sensors. So what was the point?


Just curious,

Jake

Of course you know they made APS film too, Advanced Photo System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Image sensors are made in batches on a silicon wafer. The wafers, about 0.75 mm thick, are cut from cylindrical silicon ingots. A wafer is about 300 mm in diameter. More APS-C (and APS-H) size image sensors can be made on a single wafer of silicon, than full size image sensors, which is why APS-C sensors cost less to make.

Plus the camera itself can be made smaller.

Nikon's first FX (full frame) sensor was the D3, launched in 2007.

Do you have any idea how much a Nikon D1X, with it's 5.3 MP APS-C image sensor, cost new when it was launched back in 2001? Nikon D1x Review: 2. Specifications: Digital Photography Review

The first consumer Nikon DSLR (D70) didn't appear until 2004, and the first entry-level (D40) didn't launch until the 4th quarter of 2006 to take advantage of the Christmas season.

 

[bigtwinky]

....
Nikon's first FX (full frame) sensor was the D3, launched in 2007.
....
The first consumer Nikon DSLR (D70) didn't appear until 2004, and the first entry-level (D40) didn't launch until the 4th quarter of 2006 to take advantage of the Christmas season.

Oh, so my initial thinking was correct... full frames came after the crops.

 

[table1349]

....Nikon's first FX (full frame) sensor was the D3, launched in 2007.....The first consumer Nikon DSLR (D70) didn't appear until 2004, and the first entry-level (D40) didn't launch until the 4th quarter of 2006 to take advantage of the Christmas season.

Oh, so my initial thinking was correct... full frames came after the crops.

Kind of, sort of, maybe. 1972 Kodak created what would be considered FF sensors that fit into the F2 with a special back. $12,000.00 for a back that would produce a decent 5x7 size photo max. Not practical from a business point of view at that point, but we have come a long since then.

 

[480sparky]

What I can't figure out is this: The lenses I used to shoot with when I had 35mm films cameras are much smaller and lighter than the lenses used for Nikon DX format. I've come across some of those lenses I sold many years ago and they look absolutely puny!