Full frame and new longer lens or new cropped sensor and current lenses
Jun 11, 2015 12:19:15 #
I own a Nikon FX camera, I need a lens with a longer focal length than 300mm for wildlife, should I just purchase a DX body that will give me a crop factor of 450mm on my 300mm lens, particularly as the cost of suitable long lenses are around £2000 upwards, the new D7200 body is around £849, or should I look to buy a new lens. I would be grateful for any comments and advise
Jun 11, 2015 12:31:48 #
Jun 11, 2015 13:58:56 #
By putting the camera in DX mode is exactly the same as cropping, whereas a DX camera has the same pixel count as my FX body so wont I retain better quality for print providing I have the light at a fraction of the price of a longer lens
Jun 11, 2015 14:04:14 #
chinners wrote:
By putting the camera in DX mode is exactly the same as cropping, whereas a DX camera has the same pixel count as my FX body so wont I retain better quality for print providing I have the light at a fraction of the price of a longer lens
Yes. Going to crop mode means you lose the use of a lot of pixels.
Jun 11, 2015 14:41:48 #
I currently own a sigma 120-300 2.8, on a DX body that would give me 120 - 450 plus the ability to still crop, however I don't wish to lose the image quality. Is it a realistic option to use a DX body for anything that requires a long lens and my FX body for all else. It is that financially it is far less costly to go the second body route
Jun 11, 2015 15:18:02 #
chinners wrote:
I own a Nikon FX camera, I need a lens with a longer focal length than 300mm for wildlife, should I just purchase a DX body that will give me a crop factor of 450mm on my 300mm lens, particularly as the cost of suitable long lenses are around £2000 upwards, the new D7200 body is around £849, or should I look to buy a new lens. I would be grateful for any comments and advise
Unless you NEED a crop sensor backup body, or want one for a particular reason, I would spend that money on a longer lens, either the 150-600mm Tamron or Sigma model, for pretty much the same price as the D7200 body.
Cropping an image is always a poor choice because you are throwing away valuable pixels by doing so, they cannot be recovered.
Jun 12, 2015 06:59:52 #
chinners wrote:
You don't say which FX body you have so the answer is not straightforward.I own a Nikon FX camera, I need a lens with a longer focal length than 300mm for wildlife ...........
If you have a D750, then you are correct in saying the perceived FL will be 450mm using a 300mm lens. OTOH, if you have a D800, then the perceived FL will be substantially less because the D800 starts off with more (36) MPix than the D7200.
The other factor is the Aperture of the lens. If the 300 is the long end of a zoom lens and say f/5.6, unless you have really good light, you're probably going to run into problems with noisy files when using the D7200.
If your FX camera is 24Mpix and you have a 300/2.8 then I would probably go for the crop camera.
Jun 12, 2015 07:07:37 #
chinners wrote:
I own a Nikon FX camera, I need a lens with a longer focal length than 300mm for wildlife, should I just purchase a DX body that will give me a crop factor of 450mm on my 300mm lens, particularly as the cost of suitable long lenses are around £2000 upwards, the new D7200 body is around £849, or should I look to buy a new lens. I would be grateful for any comments and advise
You did not say which 300mm lens you have, but if it is either the f/2.8 or the f/4 you could add a teleconverter to extend the focal length.
Jun 12, 2015 07:23:35 #
chinners wrote:
I own a Nikon FX camera, I need a lens with a longer focal length than 300mm for wildlife, should I just purchase a DX body that will give me a crop factor of 450mm on my 300mm lens, particularly as the cost of suitable long lenses are around £2000 upwards, the new D7200 body is around £849, or should I look to buy a new lens. I would be grateful for any comments and advise
Why not just add a TC14E III at a fraction of the cost. You will probably see less IQ loss than either alternative.
Jun 12, 2015 07:43:20 #
chinners wrote:
By putting the camera in DX mode is exactly the same as cropping, whereas a DX camera has the same pixel count as my FX body so wont I retain better quality for print providing I have the light at a fraction of the price of a longer lens
This is the reason I use both an FX and a DX body. The other reason is that would rather use two bodies with lenses mounted on each vs swapping lenses in the field.
Jun 12, 2015 08:51:38 #
I currently use a d610, I have tried the 2x teleconverter but the loss in quality is quite noticeable. It would be far easier to make a decision if the longer lenses were not so expensive
Jun 12, 2015 11:59:52 #
Wildlife is where Crop frame bodies excel. 1.4X TC is a viable option - so is cropping with well applied pixel enlargement techniques on a good sensor with a good lens.
Jun 12, 2015 18:34:51 #
amfoto1
Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA
Quote:
You don't say which FX body you have so the answer... (show quote)
Huh? The "perceived focal length" would be exactly the same whether on a D750 or a D800.... both are FX cameras, so on both a 300mm will behave as a 300mm on full frame.
Apertures don't change with sensor size, either. So, not sure I understand your next point, either. f5.6 is f5.6, whether it's on a D750 or a D7200. I think you mean that the D7200 will have more of a limit on high ISO usage, due to the smaller sensor... or to put it another way, higher ISOs will be more noise free on the FX camera.
Quote:
Why not just add a TC14E III at a fraction of the cost. You will probably see less IQ loss than either alternative.
A DX camera will give higher effective magnification (1.5X vs 1.4X) and will out-resolve the lens + teleconverter.
Either can be expected to be better than switching to DX format on an FX camera. (Which is the identical to later cropping the image.)
A 24MP D750 in DX mode makes it a 10MP camera.
A 36MP D800 in DX mode makes it a 15MP camera.
While both those are respectable, 24MP from an actual DX camera such as the D7200 could be expected to give better overall image quality.
The alternative, getting a longer lens to use on the FX camera, would give maximum image quality. But, it depends upon what you do with your images, too. Unless you print big... really big... or make some other high use of the images, you are likely to be the only person who sees the difference, when looking at your original files at ridiculously high magnifications like 100% on your computer monitor. To get that ultra high quality image, you'll not only need to spend a lot of money, you'll also have to haul around a lot larger and heavier gear... probably a tripod to sit it on too.
So, all things considered, generally your best bet would be to get a DX camera and use it with current lenses. FX and DX cameras can complement each other very well.
Jun 13, 2015 06:13:09 #
Jun 13, 2015 06:17:37 #
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