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12-02-2009, 06:09 AM   #1
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Full Frame

What is full frame versus Pentax cameras?

12-02-2009, 06:48 AM   #2
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Chilihead, without getting all technical on you, let me just say that it has to do with the size of the sensor in the camera. Pentax digital cameras are not full-frame. Canon, Nikon, Sony all make full frame cameras. On a full frame camera a shot taken with a 50 mm lens will display virtually everything that the 50 mm lens sees. Whereas on a Pentax digital camera, since the sensor is smaller than full frame, the picture produced will be only the center portion of what the lens actually sees. This was explained to me like this: Set a juice glass upside down on the table. The circle the glass casts on the table is the view the 50 mm lens has. Now place a piece of paper slightly larger than a postage stamp under the glass. That is the recording medium of the APS-C sensor in our Pentax digital cameras. This is the reason why when we shoot a picture with that 50 mm lens, the resulting photo looks the same as one shot with a 75 mm lens on a full-frame camera.
12-02-2009, 07:59 AM   #3
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make sure to do the above experiment with an empty glass... otherwise can get messy.

sorry... could not resist
12-02-2009, 07:44 PM   #4
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If you have to ask, I would not fret about it.

12-02-2009, 08:24 PM   #5
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Basically, the difference is this. On a full frame camera, there will be more in the photo ( wider field of view ) than there is on a cropped sensor camera.

A few months back, I went out with my pop, he was testing out another Good Will find. I took my old Ricoh KR-5 35mm and put on a 28mm lens. it was as wide as my kit lens at 18 mm on my digital Pentax.
12-02-2009, 08:26 PM   #6
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Full frame refers to the camera sensor being of the same dimensions as 35mm film. The size of the sensor is directly proportional to the cost. The larger the sensor the more the camera will cost, the larger the lenses, and thus their cost usually rises to a degree.

APS-C - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
12-03-2009, 08:57 AM   #7
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I might add since your origional post says Full frame vs Pentax is that until a couple of years ago, all digital SLR's used the APS/C size format and most of the models sold by every manufacturer are still APS/C. Canon, Nikon, and Sony have high end, larger sensor, "Full Frame" models aimed at the professional market and the amatuers who have money to burn. They cost about the same as a late model used car or maybe a new car if you buy a couple of lenses. Please don't get the idea that the other guys are FF and Pentax isn't. Pentax hasn't made one next. A few people complain about it. 95% of us can't afford one and probably will never own one.

12-03-2009, 09:31 PM   #8
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I've got 8 FF cameras and one 1/2 frame. Sure do love them all.
12-04-2009, 08:56 AM   #9
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When you look through the lens of a cropped sensor camera, do you see the same as a FF camera? Does the effect of the cropped sensor show up through the lens or not until the picture is printed (or put on the computer)?
12-04-2009, 09:27 AM   #10
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Good question eco1 and welcome to the forum. When you look through the lens of an APS-C camera it is still basically What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get. What you see will be recorded on the sensor and transfered to the memory card.
12-04-2009, 10:01 AM   #11
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So then, you already see the effects of the cropping. I thought this was the case but wanted to check.

Thanks
12-04-2009, 11:44 AM   #12
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Basically, if you don't own a film camera, you can safely forget you ever heard about crop factors. Put a lens on the camera and it will work exactly the way an SLR should. The fact that the view through your digital camera is different than it would be through someone else's film camera with that same lens is of no consequence. There is no more need to go around mentally applying crop factors and multiply or dividing to figure out equivalent focal lengths than there is to constantly go around converting all measurements to metric equivalents (for those of us in the US; think the converse for those elsewhere). It's only relevant when trying to actually make comparisons with friends in other countries - eg, telling them you climbed a 14,000 foot mountain may leave them scratching their heads, but telling them it was 4000 meters (or whatever) might mean something. Similarly, if youve got a 50mm lens, then there is no need for you to think of it as anything other than a 50mm lens. It's only if you wish to compare notes with someone shooting film that you'd need to say, "that's kind of like a 75mm lens on your camera".
12-08-2009, 05:43 PM   #13
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That is a great way to think about it Marc, or not to think about. When I'm using my K200d the last think on my mind is "the crop factor." Instead, I'm trying to frame the picture I want to take, set the exposure to, hopefully, reproduce what I'm seeing in the viewfinder. The only time I ever think about crop factor is when I'm reading a lens review or when someone brings it up in a post.
12-08-2009, 05:50 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pioneer Quote
That is a great way to think about it Marc, or not to think about. When I'm using my K200d the last think on my mind is "the crop factor." Instead, I'm trying to frame the picture I want to take, set the exposure to, hopefully, reproduce what I'm seeing in the viewfinder. The only time I ever think about crop factor is when I'm reading a lens review or when someone brings it up in a post.
And we can leave it to that!
12-08-2009, 10:53 PM   #15
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so whats the ratio of what the aps-c lenes see and what the actual sensor sees on my K-x?
[For the sake of the question, lets say my K-x eyepiece see's 100%]
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