Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Full Frame? APS-C? Micro4/3? Interesting Information For Those Of You Who Can’t Decide Which You Need

Clearing Storm.  Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2005 (click to enlarge)
6mp Nikon D70; 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 kit lens @ 28mm; 1/250th @ f/10; ISO 200; cropped to 5:4

What are the real and practical differences in shooting with different format sensor cameras?  What is the practical difference in resulting images?  Well, there is a lot of good information as well as not so good information swirling around the Internet that makes choosing a camera more difficult for those who are unsure as to what the differences there are among full frame, APS-C and Micro4/3 sensors.

I've extensively photographed with all three over the past 10 years (Olympus, Fujifilm and Nikon) and I've written several posts about what differences I've experienced.  Last week, I happened to view four YouTube presentations by professional photographers who have used all these formats with their opinions as to the practical differences in shooting, viewing and printing with them.  I thought these four were well done and, if you have any question about each one and which one may be right for you, I encourage you to take a look.  Personally, from my direct experience, I agree with almost all of what is presented.

If you are trying to decide which sensor will serve you best or are curious about what four professional photographers have to say (versus Internet pitchmen) about what differences they experience among these different sensors, I would encourage you to spend an hour and watch these videos.  

This first video is by Duade Paton.  Duade is a very accomplished nature, bird and wildlife professional photographer based out of rural Austrailia.  Duade has a lot of experience with full frame and APS-C cameras and some with m4/3 cameras.  In many of his videos he tests various cameras and lenses (by actually being out there and using them vs. photographing a brick wall) so he has a pretty good idea of what differences one will experience.  In this video he talks about the practical differences when shooting each as well compares sizes, weights and prices.  He also covers image quality of the three sensor formats.  A very well rounded look at the three formats.


https://youtu.be/A0jlAg3GtNU


This next video is by Ian Worth.  Ian is a full time British landscape photographer.  In this video Ian shoots identical scenes and then directly compares the image quality, both on a computer monitor as well as on very large prints (40”), between a Canon R5 and a Fujifilm X-H2.


https://youtu.be/uuGWZEcfGOQ


Joris Hermans presents an informative video about the various sensor sizes.  He is a Belgium based professional photographer and videographer who seems very passionate about photography.  I enjoyed his presentation style.


https://youtu.be/tOx3Y52EPNI


Many of you may know James Popsys.  James is now a Wales based professional photographer who did most of his work over the past several years with a Micro4/3 cameras but now uses Sonys.  He gives a pretty good summary of his experiences and the differences he has seen using the different sized sensors.


https://youtu.be/hxJnkhoZlDg


As for my personal experience over 10 years, I've found that:

1) I no longer see a need for full frame today.  Seriously.  I find the differences are minimal.  That wasn’t so 10 years ago.

2) In the past, my main reason for having a full frame camera was for the high megapixel sensor.  Now that Fujifilm has a 40mp high resolution sensor with excellent image quality, pleasing color, good dynamic range and moderate noise at high ISOs, the X-T5 fully meets my needs.  I don’t feel as though I am sacrificing anything.

3) The only times I had been disappointed with my micro4/3 gear is when I needed more than 20mp for specific subjects.

4) In 2014 I had a pro lab print first identical 16” x 20” prints then identical 24” x 30” images from my 16mp Olympus E-M1 m4/3 camera and my 36mp Nikon D800e and no one was able to tell which was which.  No one.  You can read those two posts here and here.

5) Full frame still has technically the best dynamic range and lowest noise, but how often do you need either of those two attributes.  If you do need them more than occasionally, get full frame.  Usually, full frame has about one stop more dynamic range than APS-C and APS-C has about a stop more than Micro4/3.  Check out your camera’s dynamic range and compare it to other cameras on the photonstophotos.com site.

6) I ultimately chose the APS-C sensor Fujifilm not specifically for the image quality, but for the haptics, dials, buttons, menus and feel of the T-series cameras in my hand.  I enjoy using it more than any other cameras I’ve owned.

7) At the end of the day, for general everyday photography, I found myself picking up and using the camera that I most enjoyed using.  I found the image quality was fine from all three of my different format cameras regardless of sensor sizes.

I hope you found this information helpful and worthwhile.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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3 comments:

  1. Great summary. My "full-frame" experience was limited to actual Tri-X, Kodachrome and Fujichrome in Spotmatics but I've used micro 4/3 and APS-C around the world as a semi-serious amateur. Neither has fallen short of my needs in technical quality, but the APS-C cameras have been much more user friendly. My "forever" camera is the Nikon Z50; even with the 50-250mm kit lens, it's light and small enough to dangle from a wrist strap for an entire day of travel shooting.

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    1. Thanks for your comment Bob. I guess the key is to find what camera works for you both in image quality and if you like using it.

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  2. Dennis, you are spot on with this post. I've been shooting with Fuji XT's since day one and also with FF's. Slowly, that difference between APS-C and FF sensors has been shrining and now even for my top landscape work they both come really close. So like you, I enjoy the haptics of the Fujis and that's the camera I pick up the most.

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