Sunday 5 May 2019

Focal length on Full frames and cropped sensors


Yes, this subject again. But I have a slightly different question and I was unable to find an answer here or anywhere else.


I understand a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens ALWAYS. I understand that "equivalent focal length" is a theoretical thing that is more about comparing field of view between different sensors. I understand that a 50mm DX on a cropped sensor and a 75mm FX on a FF have the same field of view. What I would like to know is: Do they have the same perspective? If you take a photo with a FF camera and 75mm DX lens and compare that image with another shot of same subject made by a cropped camera and a 50mm lens what will you see? Can they be superimposed without any deviation?


Another experiment: Two shots of same subject, one in a FF/50mm FX and another in a cropped camera/50mm DX. In this case, the image produced by the FF camera is large than the other. Fine. But if you superimpose the image produced by 50mm DX on the central region of the image produced by 50mm FX what will you see? Any deviations? Or a perfect match?


So far, I understand the first experiment will result in a slight deviation because one is a 75mm lens and another is a 50mm - they are two completely different things, only with a similar field of view, and so they have different perspectives.



In the second experiment, I expect a perfect match on the central region, because they have the same geometry and perspective.


Also, based on the geometry, I expect that deviation would be larger in short focal lengths (50mm and below) and they may be irrelevant on longer focal lengths (100mm and above).


Am I right ?


PS: This is a theoretical discussion about ideal lens, about geometry and perspective. Please, ignore chromatic aberrations, construction, design, makers, technology, coats, whatever.


I appreciate your patience on this subject.


best regards,



Answer



Keeping in mind that you are asking about a perfect, theoretical lens:



What I would like to know is: Do they have the same perspective? If you take a photo with a FF camera and 75mm DX lens and compare that image with another shot of same subject made by a cropped camera and a 50mm lens what will you see? Can they be superimposed without any deviation?




I assume that you actually mean "full frame camera and full-frame lens".¹


In this case, if you:



  • print or enlarge to the same size, and

  • also compensate for depth of field by adjusting the aperture, and

  • and put the camera in the exact same place, and

  • have theoretically ideal lenses and sensors,


then, yes, you'll get indistinguishable results. They have the same perspective, because you're taking the photograph from the same location, and perspective literally means the appearance of objects from a certain location.



This will also be the case if you put the 50mm lens on the full-frame camera, keep everything else in mind above, and then crop away the edges keeping only the center.



Another experiment: Two shots of same subject, one in a FF/50mm FX and another in a cropped camera/50mm DX. In this case, the image produced by the FF camera is large than the other. Fine. But if you superimpose the image produced by 50mm DX on the central region of the image produced by 50mm FX what will you see? Any deviations? Or a perfect match?



Right — if you follow the rules above, this will be a perfect match.


In a theoretical universe, zooming in is exactly the same as cropping. This is why the "digital zoom" feature common on compact cameras works, and how you can "zoom in" on a cell phone which has only a fixed lens.




1. If you put a DX lens — a Nikon lens designed for APS-C — on a FX Nikon camera, the image will be cropped effectively turning the FX camera into a DX camera. If you disable this, or use a lens designed for a crop sensor on a camera without a similar feature, the full image will be captured, but there may be significant vignetting (or even complete blockage) at the corners, because the lens design may not project an image circle large enough to cover the whole of the larger sensor.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Why is the front element of a telephoto lens larger than a wide angle lens?

A wide angle lens has a wide angle of view, therefore it would make sense that the front of the lens would also be wide. A telephoto lens ha...