Full Frame vs Crop Sensor – Which One Will You Choose?

Learn some of the differences between full frame vs crop sensor cameras. See how sensor size can be an advantage when it comes to the focal length of the both the full frame vs crop sensor cameras.

Full Frame vs Crop Sensor

In today’s video, I’d like to help you understand the difference between full frame and crop sensor cameras. And what the crop factor does to focal length on each camera. The biggest difference between full frame and crop sensor is the size of the sensor. That’s where the term full frame and crop sensor come from.

Understanding Sensor Size and Crop Factor

So let’s talk more about sensor size and crop factor. One of the cameras I use is a Canon 5D Mark III. And this camera has a full frame sensor. You can see it in there. So here are the specs for a Canon 5D Mark III. This green box. Is about the size of a full frame sensor and is a 35 millimeter equivalent and it measures 36 by 24 millimeters is a crop factor of 1. If you have a 50 millimeter lens on a full frame camera, it gives you the field of view that you would expect from a 50 millimeter lens on the 35 millimeter film camera.

Any sensor that is smaller than a full frame is called crop sensor, usually called a APS C sensor. Also going to be using the Canon 90D, which has an APS C sensor. Here you can see the specs for the camera and as you can see the green box is showing the actual sensor size of 22.3 by 14.9.

Crop factor is determined by the size of the sensor. There is a way to calculate the crop factor from the sensor dimensions, but here the crop vector is given to you which is 1.6. Crop sensor sizes vary between camera makers. Nikon’s and Sony’s for example, their crop factor is 1.5 and most

Canon APS C equip cameras have a 1.6 crop factor. So when you take a photo, the image goes through the lens and projects an image onto the rectangular sensor. On a full frame camera you’re going to see most of that image on the back of your camera. When you take a photo on a camera with a crop sensor the image that is projected onto the sensor is smaller. Because the sensor is smaller more of the image is cropped off from the top and bottom and sides.

So when you take a photo the thing that does not change is the focal length of the lens you’re shooting with. So for example, I have this 50 millimeter lens here. Whichever camera you use to take a photo with this lens, the lens is still looking at the subject of the photo with the same way. What is going to impact the focal length is the sensor.

So let’s see how that goes. I’m going to show you what happens when you use the same lens on both a full frame and crop sensor camera. I’m going to use a 50 millimeter 1.8 lens on both my Canon 5D Mark III, which is a full frame camera. And my Canon 90D, which is a crop sensor or APS C sensor camera. And yes, some lenses can be used on both full frame or crop sensor cameras, and you have lenses that are designed for just full frame cameras.

I’m shooting this guitar body so you can see the results. I’m using a tripod and leaving it in the exact same spot and just switching the cameras. Let me take a photo of this guitar body with a Canon 5D Mark III with a 50 millimeter lens. Since this is a full frame camera, there’s no crop factor here, so the sensor gives you most of the image. Here are the results using a full frame camera. As you can see, the metadata on the right showing the focal length, another camera settings.

So now I placed the Canon 90D on the tripod with a 50 millimeter lens, took another shot of the guitar. The results are the guitar body looks more zoomed in. That’s due to the crop factor of the 90D. If you do the math a 50 millimeter focal length of the lens, multiplied by the crop factor of the Canon 90D of 1.6 = 80 millimeters.

So using a 50 millimeter lens with a crop sensor of 1.6 on the camera is more like an 80 millimeter lens. A smaller sensor will give you a more zoomed-in photo with the lens at the same focal length. Here is a comparison of the two cameras shooting with a 50 millimeter lens. You can get a blurry background with a crop sensor camera. You don’t have to buy a more expensive full frame camera to get that. This is more of a result of the 1.8 aperture that was set on both cameras.

How to Get the Same Field of View with a Zoom Lens

Another way to see how using the crop sensor camera can work for you is say you want to see a field of view that is similar to a 50 millimeter lens on a full frame camera. What you need to do is divide the focal length of the lens by the crop factor of the camera. In this case it will be 50 /, 1.6 = 31.25 millimeters.

You would need a lens at about 32 millimeters on the crop sensor camera, to get a field of view on a 50 millimeter lens on a full frame camera. If I set this 24 to 105 lens to about 32 millimeters and then put it on the Canon 90D, I should have the same field of view as I did on the full frame camera with a 50 millimeter lens.

I’ll switch that lens and take that photo. Here’s that shot of the guitar body again. You can see from the metadata that the focal length was actually 32 millimeters. The shot looks close, but it’s hard to change that. Local link on zoom lenses. exactly. The full frame with a 50 millimeter and the 24 to 105 lens side-by-side gives you an idea of what is possible. Here’s a quick comparison of all three shots.

Let’s look at some more examples. This bird was maybe 200 feet from me I’m guessing. The image on the left is a full frame camera with a 70 to 200 millimeter lens, and the image on the right is a crop sensor camera with the same 70 to 200 lens. So one of the benefits of using the camera with a crop sensor, is you can have extra reach from your lens. Great for shooting anything from a distance like sports or nature photography.

Even with the zoom like a 70 to 200 on a crop sensor, camera 1.6 behaves more like 112 to 320 millimeter lens. That extra reach provided by the crop factor is going to be a lot less expensive to get then buying an extra long lens. You’re still going to be able to get great looking photos.

This bird is maybe 20 feet away from me. The image on the left is the full frame camera with the 70 to 200. An image on the right is a crop sensor camera with the same 70 to 200 lens. Here are the images by themselves.

Which One Should You Use?

Now, which one should you use? Its probably going to depend on your type of photography. You can certainly get professional looking photos with a crop sensor. camera. Cost can be a big factor and the purpose of your photography. For sports or nature photography you can certainly use a crop sensor camera.

For full frame cameras you can find lenses that are targeted for full frame cameras. With this combination, photographers will get more background blur and be able to work in low light situations with less noise. In most cases, full frame lenses are always more expensive than crop sensor lenses.

So you have to ask yourself what are you going to use your photos for and will anybody notice that extra bit of background blur and less noise in your photos? Another thing you got to remember is because full frame sensors are larger, full frame cameras in general are a lot larger than crop sensor cameras.

You will notice that full frame sensors will always perform better in low light. It’s simple physics really, because if you have the same amount of pixels on two different sizes of sensors on the bigger sensor, the size of the pixels will obviously be a lot larger, and because of that a full frame sensor can gather a lot more light than a crop sensor. In most cases, images from a full frame camera will always have less noise and in low light situations. Full frame cameras will perform a lot better.

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