Originally posted by WerTicus i wouldn't be interested in a full frame body from Pentax anymore because of the simple fact that the DA limited lens system is so very very very good.
full frame does not really give you much except for a different crop factor and maybe one stop advantage in light sensitivity. That advantage stop existing after 18 months of technology change anyway, just look at the Kx's sensor capabilities. Id rather upgrade my crop body twice as often than have full frame.
I agree with this completely.
I'm still baffled about the allure of "full frame." I mean, I'm utterly baffled. I hear everybody going on about the absolute necessity of Pentax releasing a "full frame" camera, without it Pentax will die a horrible death, etc. I just don't understand it.
Get rid of the term "full frame"
Try this little experiment. Get rid of the term "full frame." Purge this term and its acronym "FF" from your vocabulary. We really ought to, anyway. It's a misleading and prejudicial term. I gather the terms "full-frame" and "half-frame" go way back into film and movie photography. And in any case, calling the 5D MkII or the D700 or D3 "full frame" seems to imply that my Pentax cameras are "less than" full frame, in other words, somehow inadequate. This is silly, bordering on absurd. I keep pointing out that if sensor size is really the end-all and be-all, why don't all "serious" pros shoot medium format?
Let's instead talk about the 36x24 sensor and the APS-C sensor. And let's recognize that, as of today, the APS-C actually is the standard. The 36x24 sensor cameras are somewhere in between standard and medium format.
36x24 vs APS-C
Anyway, what is
so special about the 36x24 sensor? NOTHING.
I'm not saying that 36x24 doesn't have some advantages. It does and I'm aware of them:
- Possibility of shallower depth of field, other things being equal.
- Possibility of less noisy shots in low-light, high-ISO shooting conditions.
- Possibly higher dynamic range in high-contrast shooting conditions
Nice set of advantages and I would not mind having all of these advantages myself. But they are all incremental or comparative advantages, not absolute advantages. Interchangeable lens cameras (including DEVIL/EVIL bodies) have an absolute advantage over fixed-lens cameras. But 36x24 has no absolute advantages over APS-C, and no advantages that you don't get in spades with medium format (at least none I can think of).
And now that we've had almost a decade of APS-C as the standard, well, what APS-C can do has defined what is "good enough" for most pros. Using the right lens, and using my camera properly, I am already able to take a portrait photo in which the subject's eyes are tack-sharp and her ears are slightly blurred. Actually I can slice the depth of field thinner than that. The argument that I could slice it thinner with a D3s interests me, but is not compelling.
And of course 36x24 cameras have their disadvantages, too, as every camera format does. They're necessarily bigger. The bodies are more expensive and they seem to demand even more expensive lenses. The bodies will always be bigger, and I suspect they will always be more expensive. The only way 36x24 becomes CHEAPER than APS-C is if 36x24 somehow takes over the market so that 95% of the interchangeable-lens bodies being sold are 36x24 and APS-C (and micro-4/3, etc) become niche products. Don't see that happening.
With my current Pentax APS-C cameras, I can take photos and make large prints that nobody in the world could tell were not taken with a full-frame camera. Yes, if I'm shooting in a badly lit church, I do kind of wish that the results I got at ISO 2000 were cleaner. But I sell a fair number of prints of photos taken with a K20D at ISO 2000 (I seldom go higher than that).
Price
Say Pentax releases a 36x24 body for about $1500. I'll be happy, I guess, but not because I'll run out and buy one. I'll be happy because the price of the K-7 (or its APS-C successor) will come down to where I can't afford NOT to pick one up. If the D700's price drops close to $1500, the D300's price will drop close to $1000.
And then I'm switching to Nikon. :-)
Will