Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Guess I'm a lousy photographer, I crop what I want, when I want.
Also guess I should be using a wide angle so I don't crop out anything. Wait, need a wider....

khorinek

Here's a suggestion, Go one way or the other, either all full frame body and lenses or crop body and lenses. That way you won't have to worry about these issues. Sometimes, making life simple is all it takes to make us happy. 😊

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Keep your eyes on the stars and your hands on a full frame camera.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

As always, a very wise CHG_CANONism.

Way back when, I switched to digital. While the choice of a crop sensor was available, I chose a 5D Mark II.

Since I don't shoot Nikon, my experience to the original poster is severely limited. However, if you have a crop sensor camera, you have already limited your camera's ability to give noticable quality. You must work harder, compose tighter and keep your colors on point. These features should be easier to get a measurable photo. An example, I once looked at a cheaper lens designed for a crop sensor camera and mounted it on my full frame. I didn't like the results. The only usable feature here, is in Monochrome. I didn't like limiting myself. But I'm a hobbyist so my photographs are for me and not winning awards and being in galleries.

If you have a crop sensor camera, lenses can be a limiting factor. They may not do your effort or your work any justice.

Finally, it takes many years of work to lump together a couple of pieces of glass. A great deal of research is invested by a company. We all must realize that lenses are manufactured with specific guidelines and measurable specifications. That is why they tend to be expensive, and are constantly changing. Creating a lens and using it for other than its intended camera body design only makes for a lot of them on the "Lens Shelf" in the "Used Section."

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Never ever say you are a lousy photographer. You, like me and all the other hobbyist and even the professionals are in a process of learning more. Just a word of thought, when G-d is finished with me, I'll let you know!

I rarely post process. It's not because I so great a photographer, but simply because I'm lazy. I can never find the time to turn my computer on.

Happy Shooting!

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

As always, your words are not only wisdom but food for thought!

Thanks again!

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

For many years cameras were designed with eight brown or black. Then along came a black body with a silver-ish design. The Pentax came along in 2009 and sales were okay. To appeal to the entry user photographer, they splashed it up a bit. I didn't like it then because it looked like an expensive toy.

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

If you mount a FF lens on a cropped body, you are only using the center of that lens, not out to it's edges, which, as any good photographer knows, is not as sharp as the center of the lens.
So, yes, generally speaking, a FF lens on a cropped body should result in excellent center to edge sharpness on the resulting image.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

In order to succeed, we must believe the best equipment matters most.

jpmmc Loc: Pennsylvania

Complicated? Yes! But a very interesting question!
The physics of you observation appear to be sound. The use of FX lenses on cropped (DX) bodies will have the cropped sensor seeing only the center of the image projected by the FX lens. Thus the falloff on the edges of the lens image never land on the sensor. (much like that classroom we have all been in where the projector was too far away from the screen and a lot of the projection fell outside the edge of the screen)
I also find it interesting to future proof your lens purchases to be eventually used on an FX camera body later on. You really cannot go wrong with the FX choice on a DX body, even though more costly, it is more pragmatic in your case.
Keep thinking outside the box. Good luck.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Which is why the Nikon 28-300 is especially great on a crop sensor camera.

yorkiebyte Loc: Scottsdale, AZ/Bandon by the Sea, OR

....HoHoHoHaHaHaHA...HaHaHaHa!!!! OMG!! That's a good one!! HaHaHa!! ....Whew...!!

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I have one, so you can't say you don't know of anyone who uses one anymore.
The 17-55 was made back when Nikon made only DX bodies...even the pro bodies were DX then.
It is a pro lens, with a constant maximum f/2.8 aperture, built as well as the full-frame “trinity” lenses, thus the weight and cost.

The 17-55 opened my eyes to how a good lens can make a big difference.
Quite a jump from the 18-70 I was using back then.
Cheers!

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

A FX lens should do well with a cropped camera. It is only the central part of the lens that projects the image on the sensor. Many of those lenses when fit to a FX camera do not perform as well at the edges.

"That being said, I’m wondering about how many compositions could be affected by a subtle difference in edge to edge sharpness." One of the best lenses, according to many reports, for portraits is the Nikon 85mm f1.4 D so called "cream machine." The lens is a very poor performance at the edges and instead it has been very popular among professional photographers. I can only speak in my behalf and I am no pixel peeper but it has never been a concern to me the "poor" performance of a lens at the edges. The majority of them do not perform to perfection there.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

"In order to succeed, we must believe the best equipment matters most."

Paul, how useful is great gear in the wrong hands? A person with little experience in photography is not going to do very well with a pro camera and lens. Yes, setting the camera to auto and the meter to matrix, evaluative or multi-pattern as they are called will result in sharp images but that is all. You know this as well as I do, I do not need to offer further explanations.

Yes, the camera matters but it is the photographer who makes the image.