Do you REALLY need Full Frame? (APS -C Vs Full Frame Vs Medium Format)

make sure that you are better than your camera before upgrading

I’m now 70 years old. I was a newspaper photographer in my 20’s and 30’s. We shot black and white mostly but color showed up at the end of my photojournalist career. Just a note: When Nikon came out with the D70 I worked for a wedding photographer and we used 4 of these to shoot weddings. We regularly make 16X20 prints. Oh….these were 6MP sensors in these cameras. Just sayin

I recently "downgraded" from full frame to aps-c and personally it's the best thing I've ever done! I've gone from going out on hikes and leaving the heavy full frame at home to always carrying the aps-c and wanting to go out and explore more. The difference in weight to me is night and day! For me, it's more important to have a camera I want to use, rather than worrying about the specs of the cameras. Learning aspects of composition have had a much larger impact on my photography than the size of the sensor. Additionally, with all the upscaling and de-noising software I'm not bothered at all if I want to print anything else (even if I crop in). I'm never going to get a shot that I want to print out huge, if I don't want to get out and get the shot to begin with!

Almost 20 years ago I was using an 8mp Olympus E-300 with kit zooms. Slightly smaller than APS-c sensor. Prints came out looking beautiful. For my needs, newer cameras provide better dynamic range, better high ISO performance and better auto white balance. The higher resolution never really comes into play.

As he said: "My summary is - don't worry" ... this is the perfect takeaway. Just enjoy and stop overthinking about whether you're missing out or not.

Oh my dear, what a big effort to show us such a very small difference. Well done, Nigel, thank you for that. The simple conclusion may be: we (especially you, Nigel) can make wonderful pictures with any modern camera in a special price-range. This knowledge was demonstrated in an amazing way by printing the files. That's the real way to come to a real decision. The main reason for me to see each of your videos is your high credibility, your thoroughness, and: you print and shows us your prints. Most other photographers on YT, even the very good ones, are not interested in printing. Thank you once more (and excuse my English, I wrote this comment with the help of DeepL). Uwe (near Kiel, Germany)

Great times to be a photographer, there is no bad gear, great sensors, great glass, reliable to great af, formats to choose from depending on what you do. Just awesome

Thanks for another great conversation. I've been making my living as a commercial/editorial photographer since the 80s and shoot FF and APS-C. For about 90% of my current commercial work I shoot APS-C. I just pick the best tech for each job. Beyond that it doesn't matter at all. My clients have always been happy and have NEVER asked about any of this. If you print huge, sure, but otherwise just shoot what you have. It is so much more important to work on technique, develop your "eye," and put lots of time into honing your post-processing skills.

Since printing anything larger than A3 is an extemely rare event for me, my APS-C does just fine. Always a good discussion. Carry on. 👍🥂

As a travel photographer for a number of travel magazines, I've been photographing with a Canon 5D Mark IV for years and as I've aged (80+) I shifted to a small Canon SureShot G15 camera - much more fun and I get out a lot more too. Image quality is very adequate for most magazines (cover/inside covers and stock).

I sold my R5 to buy the X2D, but not for the resolution bump. I did it for its simplicity and colour science. Its colour depth and dynamic range is incredible. But regarding resolution, it is nice to be able to crop the crap out of an image, and still see amazing detail. After about 1,000 images, I’m happy. I still own another FF Canon (R6 MKII), so I have options, but the Hasselblad, so far, is in a league of its own.

So you want to travel light and then lug around 3 cameras with lenses! You really are committed to the photography cause! 😊

Now it would be so interesting to see how a higher Resolution APS-C like the Fuji X-T5 or X-H2 would compare to the full frame. I mean at A1.

One of the most important factors to consider when enlarging a negative/file is the relationship between the subject scale and the viewer when enlarged. This is irrespective of whether a photographer is using a 1" form factor or 6.5X4 cm MF sensor, the same goes for film. I have found that in 45 years of photography, that not all subjects can withstand huge enlargements and still convey the feeling and mood of the original scene. Adams used to be highly particular about this, whether he used a 6X6, 4"X5" or 8"X10" camera. Weston used to contact print a great proportion of his 11"X14" negatives. So what does all this mean in the age of digital, shoot first think about the photograph later? Just use what you have. Never mind all this 40, 60 or 100 MP malarky. Only less than 5% of the 'photographs ' taken today end up in print, meaning that 95% are viewed @ 72 PPI on social media. Happy making photographs.

I Use MFT from Olympus and these 20MP are then enough for the most work. And like you mentioned in the beginning, I think the composition, mood, story etc is more important!

Such a high quality production and you can really see the huge effort this would have taken to make. Thanks, so incredibly insightful Nigel!

I'm happy with my fullframe because I love vintage lenses, have a big collection of them, and in my opinion, they really shine and show their character on full frame. A combination of Sony A73 and something like Canon FD 50 1.2 is really quite easy to carry around and fun to use. I think I'm also used to measure the composition in "full frame" terms - when I look into something and I decide which focal I want to use for the shot. In many ways, it all boils down to what you used to, and what lenses you already own.

I appreciate your real-world approach. It is far more useful than curves with numbers. Bigger and more expensive can be better but only just. The most imortant factor is the user. His (or mine) weaknesses cannot be fixed with extra pixels.

I really enjoyed this video, Nigel. It is useful for me what you did and with the prints being made to provide the visual support. Thank you for making the time to create and share this video.

Wonderful job obtaining equivalent perspectives across so many formats. Great presentation. Many thanks!