Camera sensors are very important if you’re a professional photographer.
They are also important if you’re looking for a camera and it’s also important if you’re just a photographer.
Hello guys, today in this article I’m sharing something meaningful, and it’s about Full-frame vs a Crop sensor camera.
When I started my photography career, I didn’t know anything about these words.
After some time, I found these words, and these two words helped me to improve my overall thinking about the sensor of the camera.
Believe me, you guys will also love the basic theory on Full-frame vs Crop sensor cameras.
So without making you more curious, let’s get straight to the point…
A Full-frame vs Crop Sensor Camera | The Complete Guide
Before we start, let me tell you something important, in this article you will find many words like full-frame and crop sensor.
This thing refers to sensor size.
Here are some basic definitions of a Full-frame camera and a Crop sensor camera.
Hope you can assume the basic definition of these camera sensors.
First of all, let’s talk about Full-frame cameras.
The full-frame camera sensor contains a full-size 24mm X 36mm size, and the dimensions of this sensor are the same as the 35mm film frame, and remember it’s a standard size.
Yeah, you’re guessing right, full-frame camera sensors are based on file photography.
Now let’s talk about Crop sensors, so these are the sensors that are cropped.
This means any sensor which is smaller than the 35mm film frame or we can say any full-frame camera.
Known crop sensors are APS-C and micro 4/3.
If your camera is not that expensive then it must contain one of these sensors, you can go ahead and check it.
If you are using a crop sensor camera then your camera sensor is cropping out the edges of the frame, which increases the focal length, we’re talking about this point in-depth later in this article.
Here is the image which helps you to know the difference between a Full frame camera sensor and a crop sensor camera.
source: digital-photography-school
Still, confused?
Just remember this simple example.
Assume you own two different cameras, one contains a crop sensor and the other is a full-frame sensor.
So when you capture one simple object with two different cameras, with a full-frame camera you’ll get a wide image.
With a crop sensor, it’ll give you a cropped image compared to a full-frame.
Capture the same image with two different camera sensors then the crop sensor gives you a cropped image.
Here is a simple image which helps you to imagine how the actual image looks when you capture using a full-frame camera or crop sensor camera.
source: digital-photography-school
Now let’s see the basic advantages and disadvantages of these two different types of sensors.
Advantages and disadvantages of Full-frame cameras
The very first advantage of the full-frame camera is performance.
You can capture full-size images & it also gives better image quality while you’re doing low-light photography.
If you love to capture landscapes or animals ( wildlife) or even architecture photography then you should buy a full-frame camera.
This camera body also helps you to capture sharp images with a good blurry background (bokeh).
You can read more about this difference in depth later in this article.
I found one major disadvantage of a full-frame camera, and it’s a budget.
If you are a professional photographer and earning some real money then you can go and buy one of these full-frame camera bodies.
But if you’re a beginner then you can use crop sensor cameras to capture some good shots.
Advantages and disadvantages of Crop-sensor cameras
The very first advantage is the disadvantage of full-frame cameras, yeah it’s budget.
The best camera for beginners and intermediate photographers, who want to learn photography and like to capture some cool shots.
The image quality of the crop sensor camera is less good than a full-frame camera, also the overall camera body weight is a bit less than a full-frame camera.
You can still capture some cool shots with the crop-sensor camera, you can do portrait, sport, wildlife, etc kind of photography with these cameras.
Why Full frame cameras are better in image quality than Crop sensor cameras?
As we know full-frame cameras contain more MM than crop sensors, and this thing also affects when you buy any new lenses.
The most common ratio between these two sensors is 3/2, which is 1.5x.
Mostly all Canon and Nikon cameras contain around this sensor size.
- Nikon has two different sensor sizes
- full frame & and a cropped one 1.5x.
- Canon has three sensor sizes
- full-frame, 1.3x, and 1.6x ( called an APS-C sensor).
There is one other sensor available, especially for Microphotography and its sensor size is 2X, and is used by the MFT system ( micro 4/3 system).
Do you know what is this 1.5x, 1.3x & 2x?
Let me explain this with one simple example…
If you are capturing one simple portrait with your 50mm nifty-fifty lens + crop sensor camera then to capture the same image with the same distance you need a 75mm camera lens for your full-frame camera.
As we know crop sensor cameras are less than 2/3 of a full-frame camera, do the simple math, 50 X 1.5, or 2/3 = 75mm.
Hope your doubts are clear now 🙂
This is the main reason for the better sharpness and blurry background you’ll get when you’re shooting with any full-frame camera.
This simply means the larger the sensor, the longer the focal length.
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So, that’s all about Full-frame vs Crop sensor cameras.
I hope you guys find something intresting today which helps you to improve your career in the photography field, have a good day keep learning and sharing, thank you 🙂
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