Confused about lenses (Page 2): That's a good example. The old Minolta 'A' mount carried over to Sony when they bought Minolta. All of the old Maxxum film lenses from 1985 onward fit...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

markwilliam1 wrote:

As always Thanks Burk! Is that why my Minolta lens works on the crop sensor Sony because of the A mount?

That's a good example. The old Minolta 'A' mount carried over to Sony when they bought Minolta. All of the old Maxxum film lenses from 1985 onward fit the Sony Alpha line of digital cameras that use the 'A' mount, and the auto focus works properly.

https://feltmagnet.com/photography/Digital-SLR-Cameras-and-Those-Film-Era-Lenses

markwilliam1

I have No interest in replacing my Sony cameras but Thanks Lol!

xt2 wrote:

Mark, there will be a lot of information here, however, pop down to your local camera store and get a feel for the options available along with an "hands-on" evaluation.

Have fun!

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

For Canon DSLRs a crop lens, EF-S, will not even mount to a Canon FF body. Then there are some APS-H Canon DSLR bodies that only use EF, FF, lenses even though they are crop bodies. But generally for today’s Canon DSLRs EF lenses will work on both FF and crop while EF-S only on the APS-C crop bodies. Mirrorless bodies are another topic as are other brands.

Silverman wrote:

From my limited understanding as a advanced beginner, a "Full Frame" Lens can be used on a "Crop-Sensor" Camera with No issues, although a "Crop-Sensor" Lens does not work properly on a "Full-Frame" camera, due to the larger size of the "Full-Frame" Camera Sensor. If I am incorrect in my explanation please correct my understanding on this subject. Thanks.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

markwilliam1 wrote:

I don’t own a full frame camera. I don’t understand why lenses are made for a crop sensor camera and different lenses are made for a full frame camera. Why can’t you use a crop sensor lens on a full frame and vice versa?

You can with the following caveats:

1) FX will work with DX with no optical downside. They are heavier, bigger and usually faster, and more expensive. They also fully cover the FX sensor with a large enough image circle. The range of focal lengths goes from around 14mm to 800mm, unless you count the 1200-1700mm zoom Nikon made a few copies of.

2) DX lenses will work on a FX camera - but they image circle is usually smaller, so you typically cannot fill the frame of an FX camera, unless you use a DX crop mode on the FX camera. DX lenses are usually slower, often zooms, and to my knowledge 300mm seems to be the maximum focal length, with 8mm the minimum.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Apart from a few early mistakes when we had crop sensor cameras and bought suitable lens for them we have only purchased FX lens so when the inevitable upgrades happened we didn't have to also buy new lens. A little extra spent early saved major dollars later.
If you have no intention of EVER moving from DX to FX by all means buy DX lens.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

markwilliam1 wrote:

I don’t own a full frame camera. I don’t understand why lenses are made for a crop sensor camera and different lenses are made for a full frame camera. Why can’t you use a crop sensor lens on a full frame and vice versa?

Good question grass hopper, here is your answer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XG5YcG3sxM

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

You can use full frame lenses on a cropped sensor and you can use a lens for a cropped camera with a full frame but there are some issues.
A DX lens (designation by Nikon for cropped sensors) covers the whole sensor of a DX camera so it is ideal for use with those cameras. The same lens on a full frame body only covers part of the sensor so many pixels are left behind.
A FX lens (designation for full frame) acts the same way with a DX body not covering the whole sensor and in addition the focal length is under the influence of a "digital factor" that in the case of Nikon is 1.5. While this particular lens, lets say a 24-120 VR is a 24mm at the wide end with FX it is only about 35 mm with DX due to the digital factor.
Always buy the lens designed for the sensor of the camera in use but given a choice it is better to use the FX lens with the DX body specially for reach.

markwilliam1

Thanks for everyone’s response!

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

markwilliam1 wrote:

I don’t own a full frame camera. I don’t understand why lenses are made for a crop sensor camera and different lenses are made for a full frame camera. Why can’t you use a crop sensor lens on a full frame and vice versa?

Each lens type is made to project an image at the size of its associated sensor, to cover its companion sensor. The image projected by a lens built for a crop frame sensor will not cover the full area of a full frame sensor because the full frame sensor is physically bigger than the image coming through the lens. An image projected by a sensor built for a full frame sensor will cover the entire area of a crop frame sensor but data outside that area is lost, it is "cropped out". It’s common to use a full frame lens on a crop frame camera but not the other way around. Capiche?

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

markwilliam1 wrote:

I don’t own a full frame camera. I don’t understand why lenses are made for a crop sensor camera and different lenses are made for a full frame camera. Why can’t you use a crop sensor lens on a full frame and vice versa?

A lens is constructed so that an image of a certain size is projected onto the sensor. A full frame lens projects a large cone of light because the sensor is large, whereas the crop lens projects a smaller cone of light.
The crop sensor will see only the central part of the big cone projected by a FF lens, so a FF lens CAN be used on a crop camera. But a crop lens will only illuminate the central part of a FF sensor because it was engineered to project a smaller cone of light to illuminate a smaller sensor. The resulting image projected on an FF sensor will be dark around the edges

agillot

you can , but you will loose the outside part of picture .

wmurnahan Loc: Bloomington IN

markwilliam1 wrote:

As an example I use the Minolta 100mm f2.8 AF lens on my Sony a77ii with excellent results. Wouldn’t the Minolta lens be considered full frame?

It is all about the size of the sensor. A full frame will work on a crop, you will only be using the center of the the lenses coverage. If you use a lens made to only cover a crop sensor, it will not have an image big enough to cover the sensor so you would get a circle image in the middle of sensor image, Sony's will automatically cut the sensor size when you use a crop on a FF. Any 35 mm lens covers a FF sensor, 35mm is what FF is.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

markwilliam1 wrote:

What sacrifices? Please explain?

These are the sacrifices: (by Lfingar) Sensor coverage. Crop sensor lenses can be made smaller and lighter (and less expensive) because they can use smaller elements to give the required sensor coverage. In many cases you can mount crop sensor lenses on full frame cameras but you either have to deal with rather severe vignetting or the camera will reduce the working size of the sensor to match an APS-C sensor. Many Nikons do that and the new Canon R series does also.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

markwilliam1 wrote:

I don’t own a full frame camera. I don’t understand why lenses are made for a crop sensor camera and different lenses are made for a full frame camera. Why can’t you use a crop sensor lens on a full frame and vice versa?

With Nikons you CAN use a crop lens on a full-frame body.
With Canon, a crop lens (EF-S) cannot be used on a full-frame body because it physically won't attach. Crop lenses project out past the rear flange and would interfere with the body inside the lens opening. But a full-frame (EF) lens CAN be used on crop bodies also.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

markwilliam1 wrote:

I don’t own a full frame camera. I don’t understand why lenses are made for a crop sensor camera and different lenses are made for a full frame camera. Why can’t you use a crop sensor lens on a full frame and vice versa?

Please note that you can not mount Canon EF-S lenses to Canon full frame DSLR's. Nikons can mount their lenses designed for the APS-C systems but Canon's can not because the rear of the lens may damage the mirror in the camera or vise versa, the mirror could damage the rear element of the lens so Canon made the mount on their APS-C lenses incompatable with their full frame cameras.