Crop Sensor v Cropping down Full Frame

[DibblyDobbler]

Does cropping down an image from a FF camera give a better or worse result when compared to an equivalent image taken on a crop sensor camera (where the target ends up the same size)? Or put it another way would I be daft to buy a cheapish crop sensor body to give more reach on wildlife shots rather than cropping in on images taken on my FF body?

This Seems very very tempting...

TIA

[DibblyDobbler]

Junior has a 600D so I gave that a go against my 6D - both with 400mm lens, same settings, tripod, 2 sec shutter delay.

The 600D absolutely destroyed the 6D - images were consistently much sharper. I take it I am missing something but I don't know what? I might have expected the crop sensor to do a bit better but not this much

[DibblyDobbler]

Ultuous said:

What ISO were you shooting at?...

I'm thinking that it's one thing testing on a tripod with delay (indicating that speed was probably not an issue), another thing taking wildlife shots where (presumably) highish shutter speed + long zoom --> high ISO, which may be more likely to favour the full frame sensor.

(I've only got a 60D BTW, so have nothing against Crop Sensors! )

Thanks for the reply I shot both at iso100, f5.6 and 1/8th. Multiple shots with both and the 600D was miles better in all of them.

I do take your point about high iso though.

[DibblyDobbler]

RobDickinson said:

If you crop a canon 5d2/3/6d image down to apsc you get roughly an 8mp image so equivelant to a canon 350d image, but it will be better due to more modern sensor.

A 650d is qwhat 18mp so a lot more pixels. Also make sure the focus is right as the focus on the 6d will be harder as the af module has a smaller target to aim at!

The D800 and D7000 have exactly the same pixel density , so a d800 cropped will be very close to a d7000 image ( though not quite as the sensor is very slightly different).

In general crop 'reach' is down to pixel density. A good crop camera will be better than most FF bodies for 'reach' but only when you are focal length limited, and usualyl in good light too.

if you can frame it with a 400 on the 6d and say 280mm on crop then the 6d will be better, but having to significantly crop on the 6d will be worse.

Thanks Rob - that is clear

I did try manual focus on the 6D but it didn't seem to help much so still not quite sure what is going on there, but in principle it would probably be a better idea for me to get a new body rather than a news lens to give me more reach (especially at the prices as above!)

[DibblyDobbler]

V8Wagon said:

Just bought one of those 650D's. Thanks for posting!

At that price it's a damn good deal.

Me too!

Seems rude not too - please don't come after me if they turn out to be dodgy

[DibblyDobbler]

V8Wagon said:

lol....seems a pretty reputable company.

Question is....will it come with they battery and the strap etc.

Possibly not but at that price I wouldn't be too worried!

[DibblyDobbler]

V8Wagon said:

lol....seems a pretty reputable company.

Question is....will it come with the battery and the strap etc.

Edited by V8Wagon on Tuesday 21st October 22:47

Crap - PayPal payment refunded

[DibblyDobbler]

Too good to be true

[DibblyDobbler]

Xerstead said:

Something else to consider would be whether similar picture styles/settings are being applied to the images you're comparing. It's quite possible that one has more sharpening/clarity/contrast applied in camera (or software if shooting raw).

True - in this case though the difference was substantial and also I didn't do any sharpening on the RAW. I'll try again at some point as I think something odd was happening...