Cameras – Image-cropped (DX) or Full-framed (FX)

I have been shooting very seriously for over two years now and I have been using image-cropped (crop-sensor) cameras the whole time, learning how to operate and adjust these fine cameras in the hopes of capturing high quality images to feed my obsessive quest of capturing a portrait of all the birds found on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Which is still a daily work in progress because as my wife keeps telling me, the birds don’t care!

I have recently been looking more and more at upgrading my current Nikon D7000 camera and I am looking at a Nikon D500 which is the flagship DX camera with many of the same features as the top of the line Nikon D5 and also the Full-frame Nikon D850 which many feel is the best overall Nikon camera ever, with 45.7 MP’s!

Now you can see why I am talking about Nikon DX – cropped frame vs FX – Full-frame cameras because I need to make a decision and I have been studying this for a while.  

So, let’s talk about DX vs FX, which is Nikon jargon to describe the size of the sensor found in their cameras.  For those of you using Canon, Pentax, or Sony they call their cropped sensors “APS-C” cameras.  In other words all camera manufacturers have image-cropped (crop-sensor)  cameras and full-framed cameras.   So what is the difference and why would I want it?

Full Frame

Back when I was a young photographer we had cameras that used film to capture pictures which we then had to have the film developed and transferred onto photographic paper etc and we had only one sensor size in 35mm photography: 24mm x 36mm you may remember them “slides”!This sensor size has been brought forward as a standard in photography.  So when we talk about “full frame” cameras in digital photography, we are still talking about 24×36 sensor size, matching the original film size.

Cropped Frame

A cropped frame camera has a sensor that essentially is taking a picture of the middle of the full frame image and ignoring the outer edges. In other words it is a smaller sensor size.  Each of the camera manufacturers uses a little different sensor crop, I use the Nikon “DX” camera with a 200-500 super zoom lens so when you factor in the crop factor of Nikon, 1.5, I am effectively using a 300 to 750 lens and since I take pictures of small birds it can be very helpful.  Most other camera makers have a 1.6 factor with Olympus having a ratio of 2.

Here is a nice picture to show how the Full-frame and Cropped Sensor capture images.  (This nice image was found at slr lounge)

Here is a breakdown of each format to allow you to see the differences more clearly, as I like you am not an expert I found this very helpful information on the internet. Written by Nasim Mansurov for Photographylife.

Advantages of DX Format

  1. Low-cost lenses – since the corners are cut off for the DX format anyway, manufacturers started offering smaller and more compact lenses for DX sensors that cost less than regular lenses for film and full-frame sensors.
  2. Reach – this part is a little controversial, again due to comparison in the field of view between DX and FX sensors, but due to the size of the sensor and its crop factor, DX sensors generally provide better reach than full-frame sensors. Some people say “well, you could simply crop an image from a full-frame sensor and have the same result as what DX provides”, which is not true, mainly due to megapixels and pixel size. If a DX sensor is 24 megapixels, cropping an equivalent field of view from a 24 megapixel full-frame sensor would give you much less resolution in comparison.
  3. Size and weight – cameras with DX sensors are generally smaller and lighter than cameras with FX sensors, because full-frame sensors are currently only being used on high-end professional cameras that are bigger and heavier.
 

Disadvantages of DX Format

  1. Noise in high ISO levels – the biggest disadvantage of DX, as I pointed out above, is the smaller size of pixels, which results in noisy pictures and much less sharpness and detail at higher ISO levels. 
  2. Less dynamic range – compared to FX, DX cameras typically have less dynamic range.
  3. Problems with wide-angle lenses – due to differences in field of view, wide-angle lenses are not as wide on a DX body anymore. A 14mm ultra wide-angle lens is more like a 21mm lens when compared to full-frame, which means that you can fit a lot less in your frame.
  4. DX lens incompatibility with FX – if you have DX lenses and one day decide to switch over to FX, you will have to purchase full-frame lenses to take advantage of the full-frame sensor. DX lenses do work on FX sensors, but only at half the resolution due to smaller image circle.
  5. Lens diffraction – DX sensors cause more lens diffraction when smaller than f/8 are used.
  6. Smaller viewfinder size – due to a smaller mirror and pentaprism/pentamirror used on DX cameras, the viewfinder on DX is smaller and not as bright when compared to FX.  Now how does FX compare to DX?
 

Advantages and Disadvantages of FX Format

  1. Scalability – due to the large size of the sensor, FX format allows two different configurations: one with lots of resolution (Nikon D850) and one with better sensitivity and speed (Nikon D5) for different needs. For example, landscape and fashion photographers need large print sizes and would want more resolution so the Nikon D5 is excellent , while wildlife and sports photographers need the capabilities of a fast-action camera like the Nikon D850.
  2. Higher sensitivity and lower noise – as I have pointed out above, pixel size plays a significant role in sensitivity levels of the camera, along with controlling noise levels at high ISOs. For example, Nikon D700 (FX) has a similar number of pixels as Nikon D90/D300s (DX) and yet the pixels on the D700 are much bigger in size than on D90/D300s. So, if you were to compare ISO 800 on these cameras, the Nikon D700 image would look much cleaner compared to Nikon D90/D300s.
  3. Large dynamic range – again, bigger pixel size allows collecting more light particles, which results in larger dynamic range when compared to DX.
  4. No field of view issue – with FX, forget about such things as “crop factor” and “equivalent focal length” – you get a similar field of view as if you were shooting film.
  5. Lens compatibility – FX lenses are backwards compatible with DX lenses, meaning that they will work perfectly on DX bodies as well.
  6. Lens diffraction – compared to DX, lens diffraction is typical to 35mm film and starts to affect image sharpness at smaller apertures above f/11.
  7. Larger and brighter viewfinder – large sensor means large mirror and pentaprism, which means a large and brighter viewfinder. Focusing with a large viewfinder is much easier, because you see more details.
  8. Wide is truly wide – an ultra wide-angle lens such as Nikon 16-35mm f/4 is not really that wide on a DX body, because of the crop factor. This problem goes away on FX and you get the true 16mm field of view as you would if you were using 35mm film.

Disadvantages of FX Format

  1. Cost – large FX sensors are more expensive to manufacture than DX sensors.
  2. Lens sharpness and vignetting – because FX utilizes a much larger area than DX on the lens, corner performance on lenses might become an issue, although Nikon has been updating their lens line and releasing new lenses that deliver outstanding corner performance for FX sensors. For example, the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G lenses were both designed specifically for the full-frame sensor.
  3. Size and weight – larger internal components add to the weight, making FX cameras typically heavier than their DX counterparts.
 

Conclusion

After going through all of this information on Full-frame and Image-cropped cameras and I have come to the conclusion,  you have to make up your own mind on what will be the best camera for you.  After it is all said and done, whether you shoot with a DX or an FX camera,  it isn’t  important for making stunning pictures. You need to understand your media, light, you must understand your subject, and you need to understand how to compose your shot to bring out the life your photos need!   As for me, I am a passionate bird photographer and the DX cameras excel at wildlife and sports.  I will be adding a D500 to my bag very soon now and since I already own one of the best lens, the Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6E ED VR, I believe it will allow me go obtain the type of bird portraits I have always wanted!  Wish me luck!

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