Full Frame / Crop Cameras

AndyBorzi

AndyBorzi

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I am about to make the change from 1.6x to Full Frame (40D to 5DMKII) and was trying to figure out in my head the differences.

The obvious difference is the crop factor and that 1.6x crop cameras are more useful for wildlife/sport for the apparant extra reach. Full frame are more useful for landscapes, though with an ultra-wide 10-22 on a 1.6x does this still apply?

Would the IQ on a 12Mp Full Frame with a 50mm@f2.8 be any better/different than the equivalent(30mm@f2.8) on a 12Mp 1.6x crop? (I know the MKII is 21Mp but I am just making an example)

What about high ISO on a Full Framer compared to a 1.6x crop. Is it better handled because the sensor is larger?

Any other differences?

Those who have moved from Crop > FF. Did you have to change your approach to picture taking or didn't it that much of a difference?

AB
 
I must admit I don't get this "crop is better for wildlife" bit. I use a 1DsMkII for about 90% of my work (birds in flight is about the only time the 1DII gets a look in). The larger viewfinder and brighter image on the focusing screen is a great help for low light work.

As long as you have decent glass, I still think full frame makes a lot of sense for wildlife (look at the images in Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

A 5DII has larger pixels than a 40D (if you took a 1.6 crop in post from a 5DII, it would be about 8.2Mp) so should offer better high ISO performance for the same generation of sensor development.

It is also less demanding on lens resolution at the centre of the frame but does require lenses that are good from corner to corner (I even get a small amount of vignetting on my 500 f/4L on a 1DsII)

I grew up on film so love the fact that my lenses work how they "should" on FF - i.e. a 24-70 or 24-105 is a proper mid range zoom.

The other thing is that the larger sensor also gives shallow DoF for the same field of view which can be used to good effect.
 
Using a DOF calculator, I found that to match the DOF on a crop sensor camera compared to a FF you need to close down about 1 1/3 stops. i.e. from F4 on a 5D to about F6.3 on a 40D.

However you need to take into account the different field of view a 50mm would give on both cameras.
 
grumpybadger said:
I must admit I don't get this "crop is better for wildlife" bit. I use a 1DsMkII for about 90% of my work (birds in flight is about the only time the 1DII gets a look in). The larger viewfinder and brighter image on the focusing screen is a great help for low light work.

As long as you have decent glass, I still think full frame makes a lot of sense for wildlife (look at the images in Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

A 5DII has larger pixels than a 40D (if you took a 1.6 crop in post from a 5DII, it would be about 8.2Mp) so should offer better high ISO performance for the same generation of sensor development.

It is also less demanding on lens resolution at the centre of the frame but does require lenses that are good from corner to corner (I even get a small amount of vignetting on my 500 f/4L on a 1DsII)

I grew up on film so love the fact that my lenses work how they "should" on FF - i.e. a 24-70 or 24-105 is a proper mid range zoom.

The other thing is that the larger sensor also gives shallow DoF for the same field of view which can be used to good effect.
Click to expand...

I don't get the "cropped format is better for wildlife" either and that a 50mm is equivalent to a 75mm lens on a cropped sensor. All that is happening with a cropped sensor is you're getting a narrower field of view.. you're not getting any magnification.

Can anyone explain it?
 
welly said:
I don't get the "cropped format is better for wildlife" either and that a 50mm is equivalent to a 75mm lens on a cropped sensor. All that is happening with a cropped sensor is you're getting a narrower field of view.. you're not getting any magnification.

Can anyone explain it?
Click to expand...

Heh, you would probably get lots of different answers!

Anyone else who has made the change from Crop to FF? How did you get on?
 
welly said:
I don't get the "cropped format is better for wildlife" either and that a 50mm is equivalent to a 75mm lens on a cropped sensor. All that is happening with a cropped sensor is you're getting a narrower field of view.. you're not getting any magnification.

Can anyone explain it?
Click to expand...
You're right that there's no magnification. But the reason people prefer cropped-sensor cameras for wildlife is that tend to have higher pixel densities, so for any given lens you get more "pixels per duck" (PPD) with a cropped sensor.

For example the Canon 40D and 1Ds Mk III were announced on the same day. The full-frame camera would have needed 26MP to deliver the same PPD as the cropped-sensor camera, but in fact it has "only" 21MP.
 
If you lie down in between the manchester town hall and the war memorial with a full frame camera and a fish eye len's, you can get both in shot and produce a lovely shot of both structures in one.

On a 1x6 crop you cannot:razz:


Mark.
 
If you used a fish eye lens designed for cropped sensors, with a 10mm focal length (Tokina or Sigma) you would, with the Canon EF 15mm Fisheye you wouldn't get a 180 degree field of view. This is all with a cropped sensor btw.
 
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