Ideal Sensor Size ? Part 2, Full Frame

Is There an Ideal Sensor Size ? Part 2, Full Frame

Author Andrew S  June 2013

Thamel, Kathmandu.  I made this photo several years ago on 35mm film. A modern full frame DSLR would deliver better image quality but would not, I think, be any better able to convey a sense of place.

Background  The 24x36mm film/sensor size, with a diagonal measurement of 43mm, is deeply embedded in the history of photography. The format arose in the early part of the 20th Century from movie film which used, and still uses, perforated film 35mm wide with 4 perforations per frame, giving a picture size of 24x16mm.   For still photo the frame size was increased to 24x36mm, using 8 perforations per frame. The first still camera using the new "miniature" format appeared in 1913. The format was popularised by Ernst LEItz CAmera in 1924 and made famous by the work of Henri Cartier Bresson and other photo journalists.

The present  Fast forward 100 years and much has changed. The 24x36  format is no longer regarded as "miniature". It is more often referred to these days as "Full Frame". Image quality [IQ] of the latest and best full frame DSLR's is dramatically better than that of any film based 35mm camera. In fact I would rate the IQ of the Nikon D800/800E cameras as about the same as fine grain low speed 4x5" large format color transparency film. But the modern full frame DSLR is vastly more versatile and portable than any large format camera.

Professional photographers use high grade full frame DSLR's for most of their work, because these cameras and their lenses are reliable, dependable and deliver the goods, in terms of publishable images.

But smaller, less obtrusive, less expensive cameras such as the Panasonic Lumix GH3 are now able to deliver the photographic goods most of the time, so what does the future hold for the full frame DSLR ? 

I guess that CanoNikon will keep making them as long as people keep buying them. My reading of current trends in the industry is that in fact the full frame DSLR is one of the few market categories that is growing just now. I can see the logic of this. Photographers who must have  the best image quality and best performance from a camera have really only one place to go. That place right now is a full frame DSLR.

Another factor is that there are millions of  very good quality full frame lenses out there providing an incentive for their owners to stay with a full frame system.

The drawback of full frame DSLR's is that they are, compared to other hand holdable cameras, large, heavy, expensive and obtrusive. Their top level zoom lenses are also large, heavy, expensive and obtrusive. A Canon EOS 1DX fitted with an EF 70-200mm f2.8 lens costs, at Australian retail rates $9095. A Lumix GH3 with Lumix 35-100mm f2.8 lens, giving the same field of view and aperture, costs, from the same vendor, $2658. The Canon with lens cannot be used unobtrusively, the Lumix can.  

CanoNikon are trying to address the size/weight/cost/obtrusiveness problem with a range of low, or at least lower than previously, cost bodies and compact prime lenses of good quality like the Canon EF 40mm f2.8 STM.

If the rumors which I read are correct, it appears Sony may try to upset CanoNikon's hegemony of the full frame market with a mirrorless interchangeable lens [MILC] offering. This appears logical on two grounds. First Sony is unlikely to dent CanoNikon's market share with a look-alike DSLR. Second, I would bet Sony and other manufacturers see  the future of interchangeable lens cameras as being with the MILC camera type.  Sony needs to tackle CanoNikon with a disruptive innovation and it appears they will do that.

We live in interesting times.