Hi, everybody, a very warm welcome to Episode 51 of the photography explained podcast. I’m your host, Rick, and in each episode, I will explain one photographic thing in plain English in less than 10 minutes without the irrelevant details. 10 minutes-ish.

I explain things in just enough detail to help you and me with our photography, what I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience, not Google.

Okay, full-frame cameras

Bit of a baffling term, not the only photography term that’s baffling. There is a reason for it. There is a logic for it. But if we were starting again from scratch, would we call the full-frame camera a full-frame camera?

I don’t think we would.

So what is a full-frame camera? Let’s do the answery bit.

A full-frame camera has a sensor size which is 36mm x 24mm. This is exactly the same size as the film in a 35mm camera. Typically, SLR cameras used 35mm film, so when digital cameras were introduced, the camera film was replaced with a sensor of the same dimensions.

Full-frame cameras used to be only DSLRs, but now you can get full-frame mirrorless cameras.

So there you have it an odd but logical evolution, I think.

You can listen to the episode here

Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!

And a question to begin with

Why is a full-frame sensor the same size as a 35-millimetre film?

Well, it’s just the evolution of photography. And as I’m sitting here looking at this, I’m thinking to myself, why is 35mm film 36mm x by 24mm, it’s not even 35 millimetres. And then I remembered (after recording this episode though).

35 millimetres is the overall with of the camera film, including the bit with the sprockets holes in and the bit beyond that. That makes perfect sense.

So why is a full-frame sensor the size of a 35-millimetre film?

Well, if we think about it logically, in the days before digital cameras, a 35mm camera with a 50mm lens on it, that was the norm. 50mm is what you call the standard view, the standard field of view.

A 50mm (focal length) gives pretty much how we see things with our eyes. So it’s called standard for a reason, 50mm is a standard lens giving the standard view that we see.

If they changed the size of the sensor this would change the geometry and the optics and everything, and 50mm would become something else.

So in going from film, to digital, it was a logical evolution. I’d say it sounds an odd thing, but at the same time, it makes absolutely perfect sense.

Yeah. And what I’ve written here is anything else would have changed everything in photography, and nobody wants that! (but they still did it).

Evolution

So SLR becomes DSLR. And this was back in the very late 1990s. I believe the Nikon D1 was the first fully integrated DSLR. When I say fully integrated, I mean made from the ground up as a DSLR.

And yes, I will thank Google for that one – the rest of it’s all my own knowledge, by the way.

So that’s it really – full frame is full frame a camera with a sensor the same size as the 35mm film (camera).

Right then we don’t need to worry about that a lot too much.

But why is this important? And (more importantly) what am I going to talk about for six minutes? Well, I’m glad you asked (if only people did).

So is a bigger sensor better?

Well, to answer the question, of why is sensor size important, snappy title. I know. Check out Photography Explained episode eight when I go into this – see I’ve already covered it. I just wanted to come back and talk about full-frame on its own.

So is the bigger sensor better?

Yes, the bigger the sensor, the better. It is, I was gonna say the better the photos are, but that is not the case. The better the capability to capture an image at a higher quality more like.

And the bigger the sensor the bigger and more expensive the camera is, generally.

These are big generalisations, but I hope you’ll get the idea. Now obviously you need to be comparing these on a like-for-like basis, as in quality, manufacturer, and the rest of it.

Quickly, for other sensor sizes, please go back to Photography Explained episode eight, but not until you’ve listened to this one, and subscribed and all that good stuff. Sorry. I was shameless there wasn’t I?

• Full frame
• Cropped sensor, also known helpfully as APS-C. Let’s call it cropped (I think in the other episode, I called it APS-C all the way through, which is possibly a mistake).
• And then there are micro four-thirds cameras.

Now, these are the three most common consumer-level sensor sizes. There are other ones, medium format and large format, and phones which have smaller sensors.

But I’m talking about full-frame cameras here.

So the sensor on a full-frame camera is bigger than a cropped sensor (camera). A cropped sensor camera has a bigger sensor than a micro four-thirds camera sensor. That’s it.

So what else?

Depth of field

Well, a full-frame camera has a narrower depth of field than a cropped sensor camera when comparing equivalent focal lengths.

Let’s just think about that one for a second.

Okay, that was my second. And the more I think about it, I never ever can get my nut around this one. I can’t work it out. I can’t explain to you why.

And that, for me is the point of this podcast or one of the points (I hope there’s more than one point).

Do I need to know this??

I don’t need to know this. Knowing this will have no impact on me and won’t change anything, it won’t help me.

And that’s what I want to do in my podcast, I want to explain the things I think you need to know and tell you the stuff I think you do not need to worry about. And in my opinion, we do not need to worry about why a full-frame camera has a narrower depth of field than a cropped sensor camera.

There you go. Some people might disagree, but I ain’t got time for all this nonsense.

So what else? Focal lengths

The focal length stays the same. This is the point of a full-frame camera, and like I say 50mm on a film camera is 50mm on a (full frame) digital camera. You put it (50mm lens) on a cropped sensor camera and your 50mm is effectively 80mm because you got a crop factor – I’ll come on to let another time.

Put a 50mm lens on a Micro Four Thirds camera, and it’s 100mm equivalent. This has to do with the sensor sizes, geometry, optics, and stuff that I’ll never ever understand.

That will be a short episode, believe me.

So photography is pretty much built around the full-frame camera, which evolved from the 35mm camera.

One last question – why are there different sizes of camera sensors?

Why not? Why is there more than one type of car? Why is there more than one type of beer? There must be a demand for all these different cameras and sensor sizes, what people want, what people need.

So, why not – variety and options are good.

What do I use?

I nearly forgot that one. I use a Canon 6D. That is a full-frame camera. Yes, I’m still using a Canon 6D from back in the day, 2014 I think it was released. And it’s still a great camera. Let’s be clear about that. It was a great, great camera when I bought it. And it’s a great camera now.

I also use a micro four-thirds Olympus EM5 Mk 2. This is also a great camera but in a different way.

Do you need a full-frame camera?

Yes and no. Or the universal answer in photography – it depends. It depends on what your budget is, what your aspirations are, what you’re taking photographs of, what lenses you have, and lots of other good stuff but that’s the main point.

Back to me

Now I do need a full-frame camera – I use a Canon 6D with a Canon 17-40mm lens. And with my architectural photography, I take most of my photos at 17mm as this is the focal length that works for me, and this has helped to get my own style, and my own look.

If I put the 17-40 lens on a crop sensor camera, the 17 would have a crop factor of 1.6 applied to it which is, well it’s somewhere between 26 and 34, isn’t it? Let’s not worry about it too much it’ll be about 31 millimetres.

Now that has a big impact on what I’m photographing.

If I put the 17mm lens on an MFT camera – micro four-thirds sorry – the 17mm would in effect be 34mm (with a crop factor of two).

The other reason I like my full frame sensor is that it is a very good sensor and it captures a lot of data.

I could say in general terms a full-frame camera, when compared with an equivalent cropped sensor or micro four-thirds camera will give you better images, better quality, better resolution, more range of tones and details, shadows, light bits, well more everything.

Image quality is my number one priority

I mean that’s why I still use the Canon 6D. It only has 11 focus points, it’s not that quick, it hasn’t got all the bells and whistles (of the latest cameras) but if you saw the way I took photographs you’d see that it’s got everything I need and it takes fantastic photos, day in, day out, endlessly.

I must stop praising it too much – it’s going to fall over isn’t it??

One last thing

Back in the day, full-frame cameras were DSLRs (DSLR being digital single lens reflex) cameras – that’s definitely one for another episode – now you can get mirrorless (as in a DSLR has a mirror, a mirrorless camera, wait for it, doesn’t) so you can get mirrorless and DLSR full frame cameras.

I think next time I’m going to talk about, yes I am – next episode I will tell you what a mirrorless camera is and it’s going to be slightly more than “a mirrorless camera is a camera without a mirror” – no I’ll do better than that trust me.

Post podcast recording note – I need to explain what a camera with a mirror is first so mirrorless will follow that.

Right I’m done – my one-line summary

A full-frame camera is a camera with a sensor which is 36mm by 24mm. A 50mm focal length on a full-frame camera is 50mm. You can buy mirrorless and DSLR cameras with full-frame sensors.

Next episode

While I’m going back to what my podcast was meant to be about, stuff like this, one thing explained, so next episode as I alluded to earlier I will tell you what a mirrorless camera is.

Change of plan – Photography Explained Podcast Episode 52 – What Is A Micro Four Thirds Camera Explained In Less Than 10 Minutes

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These things all help me

Thank you

Thank you for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast

Rick McEvoy Photography

Please check out my website, Rick McEvoy Photography where you can find out more about me and my architectural and construction photography, work and also find my photography blog. It’s really good honest (I’ve actually written it’s really good honest – think I’ll take that off the next script).

Photography Explained Podcast website

There is also the Photography Explained Podcast website – I nearly always forget that – I don’t know why as I have just finished building it so, let’s not forget the Photography Explained Podcast.com where you can find out all about my podcast, what I’m going to answer, and ask me a question of your own

Phew – nearly there

This episode was brought to you very much by the power of me suffering with a window closed on a hot March day with no fresh as a neighbour is cutting the lawn, so I’m out of here

I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 14 (sorry) minutes of your valuable time. I’ll see you in the next episode.

Cheers from me Rick (not Eric as the transcript says, or Greg as it says in the intro!).

OK – that was the podcast episode.

Want to know more?

Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.

And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.

Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.

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And finally a little bit about me

Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.

Thank you

Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).

Cheers from me Rick