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Lying here on my couch at 3.15 in the frickin morning, up to my neck in work, sick of smelling UHU glue, probably drugged by it a bit. Such is the life on an architecture student.  Now attending to urgent Lensa stuff, haha. Anyways, alot of people has asked Lensa to write an article on FX and DX, or differences between Fullrame (FX), non-fullframe (DX) and I’ll also include 35mm film format just to clear everything out. So guys, please pay attention to this details, it’s going to come out in the exam! : P

Photo by Pieter Baert

First things first. You gotta know your basics. Lets go back to the realm of film photography. Now a normal film SLR uses 35mm film. Your normal Kodak for family photos. Yup, that one. Fullframe DSLR simply means that the digital sensor in FX DSLR,s is equal to the size of 35mm film SLR sensors. So a Nikon D3, or Canon 1Ds Mk2 is equivalent to an old Olympus OM10 or Nikon F series, (sensor size that is, film SLR’s are in a totally different league than DSLR’s and should never be compared ; p).

Leica M4 film rangefinder. Photo by J. & G.

Going into the digital realm which took its baby steps somewhere in the early 2000’s. We have to realize that the digital technology at that time was not enough to conceive a digital sensor the size of a 35mm film. At that time 4MP DSLR was a big thing. Pricey too. Thus was born the DX format sensor. It is essentially a smaller sensor about 1.5 times smaller than a sensor of a 35mm film SLR. SO you get the term 1.5x (time) crop factor on a DX, and Canon even has 1.3x crop factor. FYI, an APS-C type sensor is what they use in a DX format DSLR. Remember that APS-C=DX format.

Digital Full frame format was born as a Canon EOS 1Ds in 2002 (Yup they succeeded in cutting Nikon on this). By this time camera technology had developed by leaps and bounds and still is. It’s much more expensive just because the sensor size is bigger. Just imagine, two wafer biscuits, similar in material, but one of them almost twice the size. Surely the other one would be a wee bit pricey because of the size. The same goes for digital sensors. You’ve got a much larger sized wafer of Silicone for Full frame, so what were you expecting for the price?

So if they got the technology to build full frame DSLR’s, why are there still DX cameras?

Good question my dear Watson. And the answer would be to attract the large consumer market in buying DSLR’s. You can build a small sensor, which is housed in a smaller camera body, having lens with a smaller glass diameter = CHEAP or much less than you would have to pay for a fullframe camera. Plus DX cameras are lighter, not to mention cheap. Owh did i mention cheap already?

Nikon Fullframe eyepiece. Photo by Pieter Baert

So why would people buy a Fullframe (FX) DSLR then?

For a number of reasons:

• High ISO-Noise tolerances. Because of the large sensor size, the pixels are bigger, thus gathers light more better especially in low light conditions. Making images much more detailed and with little or no noise in bad light conditions. Thats why cameras like a D3 can be pushed up to ISO 25 600 if needed.
• You can blow up large images without it “breaking apart”, meaning that it becomes pixelated or you can see the pixels when you blow it up. Much needed for fine arts photographer and usually commercial shooters or for photographers who display their works in galleries.
• On a Full frame DSLR, wide angle IS  W I D E. The widest without going into a fisheye on a FX camera is 14mm. And that’s CRAZY wide. If you thought that a 10mm Sigma DX lens is ultra wide, well, you thought wrong my friend. With a crop factor of 1.5x, a DX lens when used on a Full frame camera is its focal length times 1.5. So its a 10mm X 1.5 = 15mm, still not as wide as true 14mm wide on a Fullframe. Landscape photographers consider this gold.
• Once you get a Full frame DSLR, your pretty much alright without changing your camera for a good 5-7 years. As compared to DX format cameras, you see new models coming out every 2 years with major improvements every time.

Hope that cleared up the difference between a FX and DX format cameras. I might have missed some stuff so if I do, please share it with us in the comments and please don’t hesitate to ask us anything. Enjoi_learning guys ; )

Related posts:

1. Fast lenses, on the CHEAP!
2. The future is Analog
3. Canon Lens Jargon Buster
4. Nikon Lens Jargon Buster
5. Prosumer or DSLR