Camera Labs

Okay I get that my entry level camera's sensor is a cropped sensor in that it's recorded data at x focal length on the sensor is less than it's full framed counterpart. So in my naive uninformed mind I think what if just backup to get more image if that's what I wanted? Then there are these posts that show an image and state 100% Crop, I'm assuming that means on a full frame shot with no cropping, meaning as shot. Anyway maybe I'm wright, maybe I'm wrong on the above but I still don't get what the big deal is. Can someone give me the 50 cent tour please?

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Body: Nikon D3200
Lenses: Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G, Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 G ED, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Tripod: Horus Bennu 747x w/ H.B. NS-BH10S ballhead
GearBag: Tamrac Velocity 8x Pro
Accessories: Vello Free Wave Wireless Remote Shutter Release
Memory Card: Sandisk 16GB Extreme Pro 95mb/s

First we're talking 2 different things when you are talking about the crop factor of a sensor and when someone is talking about a 100% crop on a photo.

Lets talk the easy one first. When you see someone post a photo and say this is a 100% crop...When you open a photo to view on your computer it is actually zoomed out so you can see the whole photo at one time on the monitor. So what someone has done is zoomed in to 100% so the photo is "actual size", but you can only see a small part of the photo, then cropped away the rest of the photo. This can be done on any type of camera no matter the sensor size. This is useful to see sharpness or other errors or variations in the photo.

Now a cropped sensor is another subject and I'm sure I posted a similar question to you very close to 2-years ago from this very day and this is how I wrapped my head about it, I stopped thinking about it I have a Canon T2i/550D and knew for quite a while that is all I was going to have so I stopped thinking about the big boy cameras. I started with a 18-125mm lens and learned what that does for me so when I go to look at new lenses I don't think about doing any math in my head, I just understand what that new lens will do. My next lens I bough was a 35mm f/2 so what I actually did was for a short period only used my 18-125mm at 35mm to see what I would be getting from 35mm. And yes your thought is correct. if I mount a 35mm on my T2i and a 5D the T2i I would need to step back a bit to get ruffly the same photo, but sometimes you don't have the room Hope this helps!

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Mike "The Squirrel"
Canon 550D | Canon EF 35mm 1:2 | Canon 50 f/1.8 II | Sigma 18-125mm DC OS | Tamron SP 70-300mm Di VC USD | Canon 430EX II
Military Issued Canon 40D | Canon 55-250mm IS

Thanks for the info, I think I get it now.

_________________
Body: Nikon D3200
Lenses: Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G, Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 G ED, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Tripod: Horus Bennu 747x w/ H.B. NS-BH10S ballhead
GearBag: Tamrac Velocity 8x Pro
Accessories: Vello Free Wave Wireless Remote Shutter Release
Memory Card: Sandisk 16GB Extreme Pro 95mb/s

FF vs Crop
Completely agree with Mike. Any time spent pondering full frame vs crop frame is time wasted. You are in the second row of the stalls and I am in the fourth row. If you want to take the same shot as me you zoom out. If I want the same shot as you I zoom in - we both have very capable cameras/lenses so that isn't going to be an issue. If I really need some extra reach I can add a longer zoom or just use an extender. If you need a wider view step back or use a wider lens. Put simply there isn't a time when a decent photographer is going to be unable to get the shot they need because they had full vs crop or vise versa.

100% crop
Just to add one point that might not be obvious from Mikes description above. When you view your 5,184 x 3,456 pixel photo on your 1,920 x 1,200 pixel monitor screen there is some image scaling going on. You aren't seeing all the pixels in your image so small defects may be hidden because you simply don't see those pixels. When you zoom in to 100% (actual size) one screen pixel = one image pixel, which is why it becomes easier to spot any issues with the image.

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Dan Marchant
I am learning photo graphee - see the results at www.danmarchant.com

Okay I thank each of you for painting me the picture very well Pun intended . So that brings me back whats the drive for people wanting the full frame bodies? OR better yet, why are there even two different ones made today? I could see if one was a older technology not phased out but that doesn't appear to be the case. At this point I'm just curious and at the same time content with my cropped camera

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Body: Nikon D3200
Lenses: Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G, Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 G ED, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Tripod: Horus Bennu 747x w/ H.B. NS-BH10S ballhead
GearBag: Tamrac Velocity 8x Pro
Accessories: Vello Free Wave Wireless Remote Shutter Release
Memory Card: Sandisk 16GB Extreme Pro 95mb/s

Just a few points to ponder on;

Before the advent of digital SLR all camera sensors were based on 35mm, this continued with the introduction of the DSLR
DX sensors are smaller therefore cheaper (therefore cheaper camera's) and smaller camera's
FX sensors being larger captures more light, lenses can be faster and/or allow for higher ISO with less noise
Larger sensor means larger pixels or more pixels, more information captured.
FX viewfinder view is WYSIWYG

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Alan
D4 & D700


http://www.alanwilliamsphotography.co.uk
BLOG: http://www.ayrshireweddingphotographer.org

AHHH! that helps paint the picture a bit better. Thanks!

_________________
Body: Nikon D3200
Lenses: Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G, Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 G ED, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Tripod: Horus Bennu 747x w/ H.B. NS-BH10S ballhead
GearBag: Tamrac Velocity 8x Pro
Accessories: Vello Free Wave Wireless Remote Shutter Release
Memory Card: Sandisk 16GB Extreme Pro 95mb/s