What is the Crop Factor?
The crop factor is effectively a focal length multiplier, but that isn’t as described. It basically relates to the ratio of the diagonals of the sensors within the camera, the standard full frame sensor is the same size as 35mm film. With most other sensors being smaller by what we term the crop factor, using Nikon as an example. \the diagonal of the crop sensor DX format, will fit into the diagonal of the FX sensor 1.5 times.
There is an excellent description here with some very good image examples. It is worth checking out this page, to gain a better understanding. If you would like to check out your camera and lense combination, there are a number of crop factor calculator sites.
What does it mean to the photographer, well in ordinary terms not that much. Pretty much what you see through the viewfinder is what you get. Where it becomes problematic is when you use cfop format lenses on full frame camera’s, as the image can be dark at the corners.
What are the benefits?
In essence the 1.5 crop factor a Nikon camera is applied to the focal lenth of the lense, making a 200mm lense apear to be a 300mm lense. This is due to the camera discarding a larger portion of the image, when compared in area of the DX sensor is less than half that of the FX sensor. This provides what is effectively an increas in focal lenth, it is also worth noting the crop sensor cameras and lenses are less costly than full frame cameras.
What are the drawbacks?
For a given resolution say 24Mp, the photo sites on the sensor are much smaller. Which means it is generally less sensitive to light and less tolerant of movement, although with image stabilisation this is not so much of a problem in modern cameras. The differenced between the capabilities of DX and FX formats, has over the years narrowed. Both formats are capable of producing outstanding images in the right hand.
A recommendation!
Im not in a position to say buy one or the other, I use both formats in my Nikon DSLR’s. I would however say, that the DX format cameras have done the job equally as well as the FX format cameras. I would suggest that buying a camera like these is a big ticket item, do your homework before parting with the cash. Also, there are a number of photographic companies that hire cameras in both formats. It is worth hiring the equipment to test, although with the more advanced models there can be a steep learning curve.
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