Only the most expensive DSLRs use full-frame sensors – one that’s about the same size as a 35mm frame of film. More typical DSLRs, like the Nikon D7000 or Canon T2i, use smaller sensors. This video shows what that means.
Mike Collins’s setup compares a 5D Mark II, which has a full-frame sensor, and a 7D, which has a smaller APS-C sized sensor. Using a variety of lenses, the video illustrates exactly how the crop factor of smaller sensors affects shots – much easier than trying to explain it with wordy words. [Vimeo via Planet5D via Petapixel via ZEROFLO]
Sam
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 9:56 AMThis video is only showing crop factor, nothing more, nothing less. A better comparison would be showing different lenses that end up with the same field of view, and showing the various distortion effects that come with that. Beyond that, there are plenty of reasons why you’d go for full frame over crop too.
Greg
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 1:49 PMAnd also plenty of reasons you would go crop over full frame. Most serious photographers have and use both for exactly this reason.
James Thomas
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 12:08 PMWow, what a huge waste of time. Crop factor is one of the easiest things to explain, why on earth is a video necessary. I wanted to see things like DOF and that freaky zooming effect.
LucasF
Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 9:08 PMAs a non-expert this video was meaningless to me and I could not see the difference between the two cameras, despite having a good hard look. There was some observable difference in the clarity of the edge of the shots but I have no idea if that was what I was looking for. So, a video is always a nice way of explaining things, but not when the explanation isn’t clear.
Dude
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 12:15 AMWhy was this video necessary to explain something that could easily be explained in words?