1.6 Crop & Full Frame comparison

[Grendel]

Congratulations Sean I have no doubt you're going to love the 5D

 

[theory]

Isn't it true that lenses are at their sharpest in the centre, so the fact that you may be avoiding the edges could be a good thing, especially with cheaper lenses.

Yep. Cropped sensors have many positives and shouldn't be regarded as inferior imo, just different. They have more reach (relative to the pixels on the sensor) and also a wider DOF for a start, which can be both good (for macro) and bad depending on what you want etc etc... I quite like soft edges, vignetting and shallower DOF though.

 

[CT]

Yep. Cropped sensors have many positives and shouldn't be regarded as inferior imo, just different. They have more reach (relative to the pixels on the sensor) and also a wider DOF for a start, which can be both good (for macro) and bad depending on what you want etc etc... I quite like soft edges, vignetting and shallower DOF though.

I agree with all that apart from the cropped sensor having the wider DOF (Actually I think you mean deeper )

Whilst the statement isn't untrue it's just a bit 'black and white' and misleading. Cropped sensors don't inherently have more depth of field.

If you and I stood side by side photographing the same object and with the same lens, but you with a full frame sensor and I with a 1.6 crop sensor, then if I move back until I have sufficient distance to get the same FOV as you on your full frame sensor, I would have greater DOF than you, but that's purely because DOF increases with camera to subject distance.

It's only true when comparing images from different sensor sizes with the same field of view.

 

[silverJON]

It would be interesting to see the same comparison, but using a digital 'crop' lens.