Full Frame/1.6 Crop Frame

[AndyBorzi]

Someone asked me the other day what is the advantage of having a full frame dslr and the 1.6x/1.5x crop. I had no idea!!

What are the advantages of a full frame over crop frame?

 

[AndyBorzi]

A full frame camera will always have 'true' wide angle and telephoto results.

However, a 1.5 or 1.6 crop factor will add that much on top of every focal length, be it wide, standard or telephoto.

Digital users always find that their smaller sensors give them more reach, i.e. a 50mm lens will become an 80mm lens, a 22mm lens will become 35.2mm and a 75-300mm lens will become a 120-480mm lens.

But that gives a disadvantage to anyone who wishes to take landscape photography, or indeed anything which involves wide angles.

I knew about the loss of the wide-end and the gain at the telephoto end but didn't know if there was anything else?

So I guess the question is: is wide-angle at 10mm rather than 16mm worth the difference between a 30D (£810) and a 5D (£1700)? (Ignoring the pixel count!)

 

[AndyBorzi]

If you can afford the extra for the 5D, you should get it!

Ooh I wish it was a consideration for me, tis more of a dream! I wasn't really looking into getting one, just didn't know what the fuss is over the full frame!

I still love my trusty 300D and won't be parting with it for a good while yet.

I suppose one thing to also mention is, by getting standard lenses, you are taking full advantage of the glass. If you then use the standard lens on a digital 1.5 or 1.6 body, you still get uniform quality but I think all lenses suffer from a fall of quality towards the edges, the full frame just shows this up a lot more.

If I was going to spend £1700 on a camera, I wouldn't buy standard glass, I would buy L glass!

 

[AndyBorzi]

I dont think whats been posted is the exact truth.

You don't lose out on zoom with a full frame, all the 1.6crop factor does is crop the centre part of the image! I.e. if you take the same picture on the same lens with a full frame and a 1.6crop all you need to do is crop the centre of the picture taken on the full frame and then you have the same image. The "extra zoom" is not a + point for 1.6x! You've just got an automatic digital zoom taking place.

Well thats how i understand it anyway.

Aah...that kinda makes sense and I see why this could be an advantage over the 1.6x crop. Just have to stand further back to get it all in!

 

[AndyBorzi]

To save the cost of upgrading my 300D to a 5D for the wide-angle landscape shots I just stand 1.6x further away.....

Cue comedy falling into a pond moment....