What Is A Cropped Sensor Camera Explained In Less Than 10 Minutes

Hi everybody. Welcome to Episode 53 of the Photography Explained podcast.

I’m your host Rick McEvoy and I explain one photographic thing per episode in plain English in less that 10 minutes without the irrelevant detail. I have well over 30 years of experience in photography so I do know what I am talking about!

In this episode - What Is A Cropped Sensor Camera Explained In Less Than 10 Minutes

Here is my answer
A cropped sensor camera has a smaller sensor than a full frame camera. Cropped sensor cameras are generally cheaper and smaller than full frame cameras. Cropped sensor cameras have a crop factor applied to the focal length of any lens, meaning that 50mm on a full frame camera is effectively circa 80mm on a cropped sensor camera. Cropped sensor cameras have a greater depth of field than full frame cameras.

Listen for more, or check out the transcript and even the blog post - so many ways to find out more!

What’s next?
Episode 54 - Explained In Less Than 10 Minutes - What Is A Medium Format Camera?

Transcript

What is a crop sensor camera explained in less than 10 minutes? Hi, everybody. Welcome to Episode 53 of the Photography Explained Podcast. I'm your host, Rick, and in each episode I will explain one photographic thing in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. I explain things in just enough detail to help you and I with our photography.

 What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience, not Google. Well, there might be the odd thing that I have to look up but mainly this is the stuff that I know. Oh in this one there was stuff I needed to look up.

Still not got the polished intro I was looking for - still having to read it out. I think the fact I've reworded it didn't really help me because I've done 50 episodes of the same intro and never managed to get it just right.

Anyway. Let's get into this one.

What is a crop sensor camera explained in less than 10 minutes? Here is the answery bit.

 A crop sensor camera has a smaller sensor than a full frame camera. Crop some cropped - trying to do the answer a bit.

Let's do that again.

A cropped sensor camera has a smaller sensor than a full frame camera. Cropped sensor cameras are generally cheaper and smaller than full frame cameras. Cropped sensor cameras have a crop factor applied to the focal length of any lens, meaning that 50mm on a full frame camera is effectively circa 80mm on a cropped sensor camera. Cropped sensor cameras have a greater depth of field than full frame cameras.

 Okay, that was the formal bit – now let's do a bit of explaining.

 (Crop sensor camera = cropped sensor = crop sensor ok?)

 What is a camera sensor?
This is the bit at the back of the camera that records the image. It's where the film used to be back in the day. And yeah, I'm old enough to know what film cameras were because that's what I started off using.

So what is a cropped sensor?
Let's go through this one more time.

• A full frame camera sensor is 36mm x 24mm
• A micro four thirds sensor (which I covered in the last episode) is 18mm x 13.5mm

So crop sensors they're the ones in the middle.

A cropped sensor is smaller than a full frame sensor and larger than a micro four thirds sensor. Now if you are thinking a micro four thirds sensor is a cropped sensor, I will explain later.

Cropped sensor sizes

This is the bit I had to research because it does vary slightly.

So how big is a cropped sensor?

• Canon EOS 400 D (according to the Canon website) - 22.3mm x 14.9mm
• Canon EOS 90 D - 22.3mm x 14.8mm.

Don't worry this will make sense.

• Nikon D3 (according to the Nikon website) - 23.5mm x 15.6mm
• Nikon D7500 - 23.5mm by 15.7mm.

So this varies slightly with Canon and Nikon. Are there any other manufacturers out there? Yes, there are.

• Sony Alpha 6000 (according to the Sony website) - 23.5mm x 15.6mm
• Fuji XT 4 (according to the Fuji website) – 23.5mm x 15.6mm

So what comes out of all those painful numbers?
Is that the Canon (copped) sensor is a different size from Nikon, Sony, and Fuji? So there are two slightly different sizes but the principles are all the same. The crop factors vary slightly, but we'll get on to that.

Nikon, Fuji, and Sony are all pretty much the same, to within point one of a millimetre which is good enough for me. But they're slightly different on Canon (cameras).

A quick word on Fuji
Yeah, before I go on, as I'm talking about cropped sensor cameras, the Fuji system is based on cropped sensor cameras, also known as APS-C. But we'll get onto that point this term later.

Fuji don't do a full frame version. There isn't an alternative that is it. Their entire system is based on the cropped sensor.

Why is sensor size so important?
If you go to episode eight (of the Photography Explained Podcast), Why Is Camera Sensor Size Important? You can find out lots more about this.

Okay, let's move on. We're going to try and beat the 15 minutes of yesterday as in less time.

APS-C - What does this mean?
This is a real hangover back to a film camera system called the advanced photo system (APS). I find this term does not help in any way shape or form. So I don't want to say any more about it. If you see an APS-C that is referring to a cropped sensor, or a cropped sensor camera, that's all you need to know what it stands for just, it's irrelevant.

Go back 20-30 years and it might have a relevance. So let's forget that.

Next point - is a Micro Four Thirds camera a cropped sensor camera?
The answer is yes, but I treat it differently, because it's a different (camera) system. I covered it in the last episode. So if you want to know more, go back to 52. What Is A Micro Four Thirds Camera Explained In Less Than 10 Minutes where I talked just about micro four thirds.

Okay, crop factor.
Now we need to go back to the beginning of full frame. On a full frame camera, a 50mm lens is 50mm and this is the standard view, the same as the human eye sees.

With an APS-C sensor. I've done it, I've used the term I hate.

With a cropped sensor, the crop factor for Canon is 1.6. And for the others and this was the point (of Sony, Fuji, and Nikon) it is 1.5. What does this mean?

You put a 50mm lens on a cropped sensor camera, there is a crop factor. So like I say on a Canon it is 1.6. So you times the focal length by 1.6, which equals 80. So a 50mm lens on an APS-C camera sorry a 50mm focal length on a cropped sensor camera (I still have APS-C on my screen - that's why I keep on saying it!).

A 50mm focal length on a cropped sensor Canon camera is (effectively) 80mm. And with my lightning quick maths on the others is (effectively) 75mm.

Yeah, I said last time on an Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera, or Panasonic for that matter, it’s a two times crop factor, which means (50mm) would (effectively) be 100mm.

Okay, so that's the crop factor, depth of field.
Now then, this is the one that I still can't get my head round.

A full frame, sensor camera has less depth of field than an APS-C. Camera. I've done it again. I'm going to start that one again.

A full frame camera has less depth of field at an equivalent focal length than a cropped sensor camera. It's all to do with optics, dimensions, and stuff that I will never understand. That's all I need to know. That's all I'm going to tell you.

APS-C cameras are in general terms cheaper than full frame cameras. Mainly because the sensor is smaller and sensors are expensive.

Smaller APSC cameras.
I've done it again. Shoot me now. Cropped sensor cameras are generally smaller than full frame cameras. This is because the sensor is smaller, and therefore everything around it is scaled down a little bit.

What about lenses?
This is one of those really odd things. Let me just tell you this one. You cannot use a Canon lens for a cropped sensor camera (which is an EF-S lens) on a full frame camera.

But you can use a full frame Canon lens (which is an EF lens) on a crop sensor camera.

Okay, nice and clear. It's one to bear in mind for the future.

Okay, so do I need a crop sensor camera or a full frame camera?
The number one answer to any question in photography is (it seems) it depends.

• What are your aspirations?
• What's your budget?
• How big do you want to print your photos?

I did make the point last week and I'll make it again here because it's equally relevant. When I do work for architects and I give them the photos, they can't tell if the photos are taken with a Micro Four Thirds camera or full frame camera.

They tend not to blow it prints up to huge sizes. Most people are just looking at things on screens these days. If you want to print massive photos, the bigger the sensor the better (in theory in general terms)

but we don't do that do we?

I've never done an A3 print apart from for my BIPP portfolio submission. So if you're not making large prints or expecting clients to take large prints, they're not going to tell the difference between Micro Four Thirds or full frame (cameras).

And I proved this, which I mentioned in the last episode - worth mentioning (which I will). A crop sensor is bigger than a micro four thirds sensor, so it's less of an issue. But I took some photos on the Micro Four Thirds camera and issued them to the same client who's had photos from me for a number of years now taken with a full frame camera.

Nobody said anything, nobody noticed any difference (no one knew).

So don't worry about it too much.

Rubbish cameras
This isn't on my notes. This is just the thought that came to my head now.

It's really hard to buy a rubbish camera these days. The most basic camera can produce fantastic photos. But the massive generalisation is the more money you spend, the better the quality of the images that you can create.

So get the best camera you can, get the best lens you can (that you can afford and need) and learn to use them - and that's more important.

What do I do?
Well I use a Canon full frame 6D. That should be a Canon 6D full frame camera, shouldn't it. And I also use an Olympus EM5 Mk2 which is a Micro Four Thirds camera. I use the Canon 6D for my architectural and construction photography work and the Olympus for travel and personal work.

Why is that?
It's just what I'm used to to be honest with you. I've had the Canon 6D for years, and before that a Canon 5D. It’s my workhorse camera.

And the Olympus camera?
I got the Olympus camera quite recently so I've never transitioned over to micro four thirds from architectural work. There isn't any real reason why not, I still get great photos.

But I'm talking about APS-C aren’t I (done it again - said APS-C again. I've got a thing about APS-C in my head. Now I'll probably go to sleep saying APS-C over and over and over which is going to give me nightmares).

Me and crop sensor cameras
I've had lots of crop sensor cameras in the past. First one was a Fuji. I think it's an ST-X 1 – oh no that was a 35mm (film camera), sorry.

No but I have had lots of Canon cropped sensor cameras, and they've all been brilliant. And I don't look at photos taken with a (basic) Canon cropped sensor camera from 15 years ago, and look at them and think they look rubbish, I don't. I don't notice a difference (I just appreciate the content).

They really are good.

Why bigger cameras?
So what's the point of these bigger cameras where you just get more in there.

I'm going to do my one line summary, and I'm going to come back to that point.

A cropped sensor camera has a smaller sensor than a full frame camera, and is generally cheaper and smaller than a full frame camera.

Next episode, I touched on it just before the one line summary.

Why would you spend more money on something bigger than a full frame camera? Why are there bigger things? 

There's medium format and large format cameras - what are these? These are the very expensive holy grails for some photographers.

I don't need one. But I'd love one.

And in the next episode, I will tell you what they are and why (I want one).

I'd like one. Like I say I don't need one. I just want one. Okay, I'm done.

Things you can do to help me
If you enjoyed this episode, and you want to help me, please leave a nice review and rating wherever you get your podcasts from. Please subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And also share my podcast with anyone who you think might enjoy it.

Thank you
Thank you for listening to my small book perfectly formed podcast

My websites
Check out Rick McEvoy Photography To find out more about me and my photography blog, and also the Photography Explained Podcast website where you can find out all about this podcast, what I'm going to answer and you can ask me a question of your own.

I probably need to update the subject list now because it's grown enormously, because every time I do an episode I find three or four or five things that I need to explain.

This episode was brought to you very much by the power of morning optimism. It's just gone noon, oh failed on that, and the faint chance that I'm actually getting the hang of this. Now I wrote that before I recorded this - clearly I'm not. Apologies for the stumbling. I've gone over time again. I'll try and get back to my 10 minutes on the next one.

So I've been Rick McEvoy. Thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 14 minutes and 45 seconds of your valuable time, and I will see you on the next episode.

Cheers from me Rick

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

crop sensor camera, millimetres, full frame camera, sensor, camera, crop sensor, crop factor, canon, episode, photos, fuji, photography, lens, explained, minutes, cropped, focal length, Olympus, prints, point