[bilybianca]

To me, going from APS-c to FF was like "hi, old lens, where have you been these last few years". Nearly all lenses I had (and have) were older FF lenses that I had used on analog cameras before I bought my first digital. It didn't change my life, but I liked the experience. Like coming back to the town where you grew up.

Kjell

[clackers]

So if if I bought a K1 (and I have a few older Pentax-A and Tamron Adaptall lenses) would I feel the pain changing back again? Or would I quickly adjust?

You grew up on film cameras, so nothing about the lenses and operating distances will be new to you, and you had a Samsung so you also understand digital imaging. You will find that today's CMOS sensors will let you do dramatic shots without all that noise in the dark areas.

Have fun, Simon!

[DWS1]

I went from 35mm film to Pentax aps-c and then to Pentax FF. No adjustment needed at all.

If you try to frame a scene with a FF camera and it is too wide or narrow you have the options of moving closer or further away. Or using a longer or shorter focal length lens on your camera. Exactly the same as you do with a aps-c camera

Did the same thing. Had the same result.

[SimonC]

You grew up on film cameras, so nothing about the lenses and operating distances will be new to you, and you had a Samsung so you also understand digital imaging. You will find that today's CMOS sensors will let you do dramatic shots without all that noise in the dark areas.

Have fun, Simon!

Oh yes, I look forward to this

[Rondec]

I don't think it is hard at all. You learn basic things pretty quickly. Zooms are easy -- a 16-50 on APS-C is like a 24-70 and the 50-135 is like a 70-200. Once the lens is mounted, it is more about just looking through the viewfinder and framing.

Primes do require just a bit of thought. If you are going out shooting with a single prime, a 30 mm lens is going to frame a lot different on APS-C than on a full frame camera, but you do figure it out pretty quickly.

[Ivan]

This is my experience. I have almost all matrix sizes except inch and medium format. No complications. Moreover, if you buy 36mm, I don't like the name Full Frame, you will like it. Your old lenses will be given new life. We are not talking about which is better or worse, these lenses were not created for APS-C.

[McCMac]

Crikey so many choices. I got a new digital sure and kept the old one. Take the old one to beach, let the grand kids use it etc. Cherish the new one. Enjoy them both.

[normhead]

You grew up on film cameras, so nothing about the lenses and operating distances will be new to you, and you had a Samsung so you also understand digital imaging. You will find that today's CMOS sensors will let you do dramatic shots without all that noise in the dark areas.

Have fun, Simon!

As much as I point out it doesn't make much difference, when I put the DA*55 on my K-1 for the first time, the world just felt right again. My original lens with my SV in 67 was a 55mm lens and it was my main lens for years. The early cheap zooms really were inferior. I don't have a problem with it on APS-c, but 55 mm on FF is definitely ingrained into my DNA as being the way it should look when I look through a viewfinder.

[Wheatfield]

I grew up using my fathers cameras of which plenty of his stuff was passed on to me. Eventually I sold the film cameras and bought a Samsung GX10 (Pentax K10D) and it did feel weird at first and in many ways it does still irk me that say a 50mm lens isn't a 50mm lens as such and have to work backward in thinking what lens would I buy to fill a gap.

So if if I bought a K1 (and I have a few older Pentax-A and Tamron Adaptall lenses) would I feel the pain changing back again? Or would I quickly adjust?

I would like to upgrade my camera (still using the GX10) as I'm moving area in retirement and hoping to do much more photography, so mulling things over to make sure I make a good call.

Interested in others thoughts.

People adjust as quickly or as slowly as they allow themselves to adjust. If you want to make it difficult, then continue to think in terms of equivalence, as we have been programmed to do since the nerds took over photography and decided to try to make something simple as difficult as possible.
In my film days, I shot 3 different formats, of wildly different sizes (35mm, 6x7 and 4x5). I never got caught up in any sort of confusion regarding what lens would do what job on a particular camera. I had never heard of "equivalence" until some dunderheads on the internet decided it was of earth shattering importance.
Perhaps that's the difference. Back in the 1980s and 90s, we didn't have the internet to sow confusion.

[stevebrot]

The thing that hit me hardest was 2 fold, but related: my 645 wides seemed so much wider with the extra vertical dimension---so much so that my use of wides dropped, especially outdoors and/or in my personal work. Then, I found that I was shooting much more at a normal/normal-ish FL than ever before, and that it seemed plenty wide for a lot of things. The 55 is basically on the camera by default, and I use it all the time. Now, my 645 wides are mainly used indoors within architectural settings (museums) for documentary work.

Your experience mirrors my own from when I got the view camera. On 4x5 and even 6x7 a given lens tended to shoot "wider" than expected by convention based on focal length.


Steve

[RICHARD L.]

Don't lose sleep over this. I switch from 1-inch compact to APSc to Full Frame to 645 medium-format seamlessly without even thinking. Whatever the format, it's the result that counts.
A camera is just a tool, like a hammer for a carpenter.

Regards !


Compact


APSc


Full Frame


Medium format 645

[dbs]

Stop thinking, look through the viewfinder, you'll figure it out.

This is all you have to worry about

[automorphism]

I think the format really doesn't matter that much because once your eye looks and sees a field of view it will adjust. Maybe the lenses you pick up will surprise you or be old friends. I think you'll really be surprised when you look and see that glorious image quality

[Photos-by-Chas]

I think the format really doesn't matter that much because once your eye looks and sees a field of view it will adjust. Maybe the lenses you pick up will surprise you or be old friends. I think you'll really be surprised when you look and see that glorious image quality

I agree. With a SLR, digital or film, APS-C or FF, you are seeing what you will capture, so it should not take any "...mental adjusting..." to get good/great/ wonderful photos.

[PDL]

I think this subject is a somewhat misleading. Why is there trepidation over sensor size? Use what you have to get the results you like.

I look through the viewfinder and make adjustments accordingly. Don't sweat about it or overthink what you are trying to do. Shoulda Coulda Woulda - no man - just do it. (To paraphrase Yoda and Nike)

Yeah I have shot everything from 110 to 4x5. What matters is can I get the image I want with the thing I have in my hand? If I have to move to get everything I want in or out of the image then I move. No mental adjusting involved, just use what you have and don't obsess over what you shoulda coulda woulda done/have/want.