Full Frame Vs Crop Sensor: What’s The Difference?

If you’re reading this post, it’s likely that you’re in the market for a new camera and are seeing the terms “full frame sensor” and “crop sensor” popping up during your search. It is my goal with this post is to explain the difference between a full frame vs crop sensor. I want to keep it simple and easy to understand. The reason why this topic comes up so much is that the biggest jump in the price you are going to notice on camera bodies is the difference between a full frame vs crop sensor.

What is a sensor & how does it work?

The sensor directly defines the camera. A crop sensor is found in a crop camera, and a full-frame sensor is found inside a full-frame camera body.

The sensor is the platform inside your camera that contains light-sensitive pixels. These pixels capture the light coming through the lens and digitally record the light and colour values for your camera to process. Although one would be inclined to think that the more pixels the more information, and therefore the better resolution, pixels aren’t only about quantity but also size. So simply put, a bigger sensor has sometimes more pixels, but most importantly, it has bigger pixels, therefore each pixel can capture more information within, making your final image better resolution and higher quality.

36mm x 24mm or 1x crop factor: no cropping, this is a full frame sensor
APS-C: crop sensor belonging to smaller cameras. this has a 1.5x crop factor
1/3.2″: for reference, this is the size of an iPhone sensor

A full-frame sensor is what you find in semi-pro and pro cameras 36mmx24mm, while crop sensors are usually cheaper cameras (1.5 crop factor).

Full frame vs crop sensor: The BIGGEST differences

As I explained above, the bigger the sensor, the more and the bigger the pixels, therefore the more information and resolution your image will have. This is the main and most important difference between a full frame vs crop sensor.

Another difference you will notice is that the size of the cameras is significantly different. As you can imagine, the bigger the sensor, the heavier and the bigger the camera will be.

Lastly, the difference you will see the most is when using lenses. While the issue of compatibility will differ from brand to brand, most brands will have a line of lenses for their crop cameras, and another for their full sensor. You are usually able to use a full-frame lens on a crop sensor, but you will be cropping out 1/3 of the view. While with crop lenses (much cheaper) you are usually not able to use them on a full-frame body.

Canon 80D: crop sensor
Canon 6D: full frame camera

Does the sensor size really matter?

Well, yes and no. If you are hoping to shoot for fun, maybe print some medium-size images, and play with editing, a crop sensor should be more than enough.

But if you are hoping to do some heavy cropping, want very large print sizes, or plan on working with clients who might want to print billboards and posters, you might want to get a full-frame camera.

I mention cropping because this is where you will find the loss of quality more pronounced. when you crop an image you are literally cutting out pixels of information. If you start off with a full frame camera, if you crop one third of the image out, your new digital file has the same resolution as a crop sensor camera.

The cons of a full-frame sensor camera:

• Higher in price
• Heavier and bigger body
• Requires more expensive lenses that cater to the full sensor

The pros of a full-frame sensor camera:

• Better resolution and higher quality 
• Better use of pro lenses
• True to view with lenses (when you see the focal length of a lens, it usually refers to the view represented by a 35mm camera (film) which is the same field of view as a full sensor camera. 

The lens dilemma

You might know this already, but your money is always best invested in lenses over camera bodies. Lenses last longer as they are mechanical units, while cameras are digital and the technology can get outdated pretty fast.

There is also the issue of outgrowing your equipment. People change cameras every two or three years (professionals mostly) but lenses can last a whole career.

When you work on a crop sensor, unless you are using crop lenses, the regular field of view will be cropped by the 1.5 factor. So for example a 50mm lens becomes a 75mm lens. A 24mm lens becomes a 36mm lens… so what you see on your crop sensor, will be tighter than the real look of that lens. With a full-frame camera this is not an issue).

So, if you want to start with a crop sensor camera, but want to invest in lenses, I recommend purchasing full-frame lenses. When you use them on your crop sensor, they will look longer (longer as in more telephoto, aka more cropped in) and once you are ready to upgrade you can continue to use them. But remember that the same full-frame lens will look wider on your full-frame camera than your crop.

In Summary:

If you are not planning on doing photography professionally, a crop sensor will always be more than enough for you. Crop sensor cameras are more affordable, and they will provide you with plenty of quality and resolution. I didn’t upgrade to a full-frame sensor until I was two years into my professional career. I shot crop sensor cameras for four years!

But if you decide to go the pro route, you will eventually want a full-frame camera. If you are just starting out, going with the baseline cameras is a great idea, although I know some people are wanting to go straight into a full sensor, and that’s ok.

It comes down to budget, and if you think you will be wanting to upgrade sooner than later. So if you have the money, I would suggest a full-frame camera, but if you are just starting out, it might be a bit too much to start with. Get comfortable with photography first, worry about the sensor later.

Check out my post which features both full-frame and crop sensor cameras: The Best Cameras For Beginner Photographers In 2020