APSC lenses on Full Frame: I have a Sony 6500, APSC camera. I'm fond of the "kit" lens, 16-50, for its size and "snapshot" ability. I have just recently acquired the full frame...

jimkh

I have a Sony 6500, APSC camera. I'm fond of the "kit" lens, 16-50, for its size and "snapshot" ability. I have just recently acquired the full frame SonyA7III. So I assume if I use this lens on the Full Frame camera I've turned it into an ASPC camera. Does this cause any other problems?

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

The main problem is that you won't get the full benefit of owning a full frame camera (which you basically said in your post). I believe all other problems would be subsidiary to that. Of course I'm assuming that your crop lens will fit on your full frame camera.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Photoman22 mentioned my exact thought. Will the lens fit? Canon crop lenses don't fit on full-frame cameras. (Although I saw an employee put one on a 5D in the store!)

williejoha

That employee should be fired.WJH

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Generally speaking, while they should fit (except Canon brand), you lose a major portion of the pixels of the full frame camera. That makes the A7III have much fewer useable pixels than the A6500. APS-C lenses do not pass an image that covers the full area of the FF sensor.

jimkh

Thanks or the responses. And yes the E-mount lenses used on the 6500 and others are the same fit as the FE lenses designed for full frame. I kn0w that the use of crop lenses does not utilize the full frame of the larger series of cameras. I just wanted to see if there were any other reasons to be careful. Again thanks for responding.

repleo Loc: Boston

jimkh wrote:

Thanks or the responses. And yes the E-mount lenses used on the 6500 and others are the same fit as the FE lenses designed for full frame. I kn0w that the use of crop lenses does not utilize the full frame of the larger series of cameras. I just wanted to see if there were any other reasons to be careful. Again thanks for responding.

There is no problem using APS-C lenses on your FF Sony. The lens will give you the same FoV as on your A6500 provided you have the (??? can't remember the setting right now) set to Auto. I have an A7Rii and an A6000 with both APS-C and FF lenses. I switch them back and forth between cameras with no problems. However you will only get about 10.5 mp with the crop lens on your A7iii. The 16-50 will be fine for taking snapshots.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

jimkh wrote:

I have a Sony 6500, APSC camera. I'm fond of the "kit" lens, 16-50, for its size and "snapshot" ability. I have just recently acquired the full frame Sony A7 III. So I assume if I use this lens on the Full Frame camera I've turned it into an ASPC camera. Does this cause any other problems?

Somewhat analogously, I just bought brand new a Sony a7 II and except for the 28-70 mm kit lens that comes with it, all of my E-mount lenses (save the Lensbaby Optics,) for my two Sony a6000 cameras are APS-C sized.

The KEY item you need to ascertain, jimkh, is whether employing the APS mode option on your A7 III with your APS lens yields better results than NOT using this option but instead manually cropping it on your own later.

Based on what I’ve read and watched in videos devoted to this question with respect to the a7 II, it’s better not to employ the APS mode.

Secondly, and this is just my opinion, it sounds absurd to employ your 16-50 mm APS-C lens, which I assume is your walkabout lens, routinely on an a7. You would be OBVIATING the quality advantage you presumably are seeking in the first place!

IDguy Loc: Idaho

PHRubin wrote:

Generally speaking, while they should fit (except Canon brand), you lose a major portion of the pixels of the full frame camera. That makes the A7III have much fewer useable pixels than the A6500. APS-C lenses do not pass an image that covers the full area of the FF sensor.

With Nikon the APS-C lenses mostly cover the full frame sensor but with some vignetting. Some zoom lenses cover the full frame area fine over a portion of the range. You have to try each lens.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

jimkh wrote:

I have a Sony 6500, APSC camera. I'm fond of the "kit" lens, 16-50, for its size and "snapshot" ability. I have just recently acquired the full frame SonyA7III. So I assume if I use this lens on the Full Frame camera I've turned it into an ASPC camera. Does this cause any other problems?

I do not have experience with Sony products. But I have used Nikon DX lenses on full frame bodies with some success. I presume that your camera body would be capable of cropping to fit. I have also demonstrated the capability of capturing square images (24x24mm).

While this may not be something that you would want to do routinely, it can be an interesting change of pace.

I have also found that the better DX lenses produce a larger image circle, sometimes leaving just a small amount of vignetting in the corners. Of course, those lenses tend to be equally as large and heavy as similar full frame lenses.

repleo Loc: Boston

lev29 wrote:

Somewhat analogously, I just bought brand new a So... (show quote)

I posted some examples from my A7Rii of crop mode vs FF cropped in PP in response to a similar discussion here some time ago. There was no difference. The vignette from using a crop lens at FF setting is very hard and doesn't respond to vignette correction or lightening. You will only get the same size of usable image and I didn't find any discernible difference in quality, noise etc. between the two. I would agree that the 16-50 is a waste of the A7xx's potential, but the 16-50 is such a light, compact lens there are times when the convenience is worth the trade off in quality.

SonyBug

jimkh wrote:

Thanks or the responses. And yes the E-mount lenses used on the 6500 and others are the same fit as the FE lenses designed for full frame. I kn0w that the use of crop lenses does not utilize the full frame of the larger series of cameras. I just wanted to see if there were any other reasons to be careful. Again thanks for responding.

I had that situation in England, Crop lens on a A7III, and for some strange reason, for about 12 shots out of 300, the frame was composed of a circle in the center, and black around it. So, I sold all the APS-C lenses and just got (yesterday) a Tamron 28-75 F2.8 zoom. One of the hardest lenses on the planet to get ahold of right now. It is just awesome in the 5 shots I used it for yesterday, and today I am braving the cold to give it a little exercise. That is my solution to the problem.

(Download)

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

jimkh wrote:

I have a Sony 6500, APSC camera. I'm fond of the "kit" lens, 16-50, for its size and "snapshot" ability. I have just recently acquired the full frame SonyA7III. So I assume if I use this lens on the Full Frame camera I've turned it into an ASPC camera. Does this cause any other problems?

Nope, none at all.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

It is not a good practice to use a cropped lens on a full frame camera. The cropped lens was designed to work at its best with a cropped camera because its image will fill the whole sensor. Those cameras are called "cropped" sensors when indeed the whole sensor is used by those lenses.
Full frame lenses can be used with cropped cameras with very good results even when the whole frame is not being used in the cropped body. Expect vignetting when using a cropped lens on a full frame camera.
The only cropped lens I use with my full frame camera is the Nikon 12-24 f4 AF-S which can be used between the focal lengths of approximately 18-24mm without vignettes.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

jimkh wrote:

Does this cause any other problems?

The problem is having only 10 MP to work with unless you use pixel enlargement software ......

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