LocalNavy433 Photography

Hello and how the hell are you?  If this is your first time her thanks for stopping by.  In this blog we are going to talk about Crop frame vs Full frame which is right for landscape photography.  To talk about this in earnest we need to understand the difference between the two types of sensors.  The easiest way to explain this is as simple as stating the facts.  The first fact is the there is only one major difference between the two and that difference is the size of the sensor.  The crop frame is just like it says it is a crop of what a full frame is.  The analogy that I use all the time is they are both just like a car.  A four cylinder engine vs an eight cylinder engine when placed in a car they get you from point A to point B the same way one of them just has less power.  That is it and there is nothing else to say about it right but at the end of the day you want the best item for getting the best images. 

So which one do you get and why is the question that you are facing right now.  The benefits for a full frame are as simple as it has larger pixels which means they collect more light so the color is going to be deeper and richer.  This means that you will have more play when it comes down to editing your images.  The next benefit would be the fact that the larger pixels will allow you better noise control in a low light shooting environment.  A cleaner image is better for printing and showcasing it to others.  The next benefit to shooting with a full frame is dynamic range even on an older DSLR full frame if bracketing your images the dynamic range is way better.  Recovering the shadow details is cleaner than what you will find on a crop sensor body even if you bracket the shots on the crop body.  

Now that you are starting to see all the benefits to shooting on a full frame there is some down sides to shooting with one as well.  To start with you have to look at the cost of shooting with one.  Even on the used market you are going to end up paying more for the right to be shooting one.  The overall cost unless you are looking at really old DSLR’s is still pretty high.  If you are looking at f4 lenses then you are going to be ok with the price of the bodies.  On average you will be looking at the full frame bodies that are around 300-500 in cost just for the body alone.  Depending on the budget that you set for yourself that cost is going to go up.  You are also looking at bodies that are at least ten years old to me that is not a bad thing.  This brings me to the next downside to shooting with full frame and that is the overall weight of the lenses and the bodies.  During this era of DSLR’s were heavy and chunky to say the least. 

Now that we covered all the good and the bad for the full frame we need to look at all the good and the bad of a crop sensor.  This is were things are going to get good for those of you that are shooting crop sensor or wanting to get into photography for the first time.  In the year 2023 it is a great time to be shooting with a crop sensor because of how fast the technology is going the crop sensor has benefited hugely and that is for sure. When it comes to shooting landscape photography I would say that the crop body is better due to the fact that the depth of field is greater on the smaller sensor meaning that you will not need to stop the lens down as much as you would on a full frame. For example, at f 11 you can achieve the same level of depth of field as you would at f 16 on a full frame.  This means that you will not need to shoot was many images to focus stack them as you would on the full frame.  

The next benefit to shooting landscape photography with a crop sensor is the light weight of them.  This means that you can spend more time out hiking with the same amount of lenses as you would have on a full frame with smaller lenses that cover the same focal range.  This alone is a game changer when it comes to being out in the field more.  I mean if you can cover the same focal range and the lenses are lighter and cost less that is a win if you ask me.  The biggest and more important one is cost even if you are buy a brand new body it still costs less to get all the gear that you need on a crop body.  In fact for getting the same spec level of body and lenses you could buy all the gear twice for a crop body.  This alone is the main reason that some people are still shooting on a crop body instead of moving to a full frame body for landscape photography.  

Now we need to look at some of the downsides to shooting on a crop body.  One huge one is when it comes down to the details that you will get in the finished images.  The full frame will always be able to get finer details in the far distance of an image than what you will get with the crop body.  I have compared it and the full frame even on a 15 year old body with the right lenses you will get greater details on the full frame.  This is because the pixels are larger and capture more light so it can see the details better.  Then you have the fact that on a crop body you are going to get more noise than you would on a full frame no matter what you do.  This point is sort of fixed with software and you would be hard pressed to see the difference in the images.  The last negative in shooting with a crop sensor for landscape photography is the build quality that you are going to get with it.  The full frame professional level bodies are always going to be built better than even the top of the line crop sensor bodies.  Now that you have a better idea on how they both work for shooting landscape photography what is your choice. 

Now I will go through why I shoot both for my landscape photography.  The first reason that I shoot with the Canon 80d for my landscape images is because of the features that it offers me.  The ease of usage while out in the field means that I can shoot handheld more often.  This means that I will not be tied down to one composition over another.  I will not have the missing out feeling when it comes to getting the images that I want while out in the field.  The fact that I have so much more in the way of features it feels like I am shooting one of the newer models. The overall size is perfect for me not to large and not too small it is the perfect balance in a body to me.  The grip feels so good in my hand and I can truly hold onto the body and feel like it is a toy.  The last reason is because of the newer sensor I am getting images that are only one stop of light different than a full frame body.  

The reason that I also shoot with the Canon 5D Mark ii comes down to image quality that you get with shooting on the full frame.  The level of details that you get from the larger pixels is still great even on a body that is over 15 years old.  The low light abilities from the 5D Mark ii is just jaw dropping when you see the level of details that you get with it.  The noise that you get with the 5D Mark ii is still way better than what you will get with the 80d no matter the shooting environment you are in.  The lack of features just brings you back to basics when shooting.  The joy stick that you get with this model is something that is just plan fast at finding the right focus point to shoot even while in live view.  Live view is another reason why I still use this older model to shoot with.  The fact that even 15 years ago they were using auto exposure simulation is mind blowing.  The difference in the 5D and the 80d is not that much and you can still get your exposure just right.  It also has a live histogram as well so you can check that while out shooting.  In fact when shooting in live view on either body it is like shooting mirrorless. 

The fact is if you want to shoot with a crop body it has never been better for shooting with them.  If you want to shoot with a full frame it also has never been better. I tend to lean towards shooting with the older gear on both sides of the house because I enjoy aspects from both.  They allow me to get the images that I want with little fuss. Just because you shoot with older gear does not mean that you cannot produce the same IQ as what you would get with the newer gear.  In fact I would say that if you buy full frame if you buy it within the last 15 years you are going to have a stellar camera.  The corp sensor bodies I would say the last 7 years you are good to go.  This is just my thoughts on why to shoot one over the other or you could be like me and just shoot both and have the benefits of both.  I did’t mark what each image in this blog was shot with because you will not be able to tell just by looking at them but the images were shot with both a crop body and a full frame body. Enjoy from St Johns AZ y’all