Full-frame digital SLR

A full-frame digital SLR is a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) fitted with an image sensor that is the same size as a 35 mm (36x24 mm) film frame.^[1]^[2] This is in contrast to cameras with smaller sensors, typically of a size equivalent to APS-C-size film, much smaller than a full 35 mm frame. As of 2007^[update], the majority of digital cameras, both compact and SLR models, use a smaller-than-35 mm frame, as it is easier and cheaper to manufacture imaging sensors at a smaller size. Historically, the earliest digital SLR models, such as the Kodak DCS 100, also used a smaller sensor.

1 Use of 35 mm film-camera lenses
2 Other uses of full-frame
- 2.1 CCD image sensor architectures
- 2.2 135 film cameras
3 Past & present full-frame digital SLRs
4 Prototype full-frame digital SLRs
5 References

Use of 35 mm film-camera lenses

Nikkor 24mm PC-E tilt-shift lens on Nikon D700 full-frame DSLR camera

If the lens mounts are compatible, many lenses, including manual focus models, designed for 35 mm cameras can be mounted on the latest DSLR cameras. When a lens designed for a full-frame camera is mounted on a camera with a smaller sensor, only the center of the lens’s image circle is captured. The edges are cropped off, which has the effect of zooming in on the center section of the imaging area. The ratio of the size of the captured image to the size of the full-frame 35 mm format is known as the “crop factor” or “focal-length multiplier″, and is typically in the range 1.3–2.0 for non-full-frame digital SLRs.

One advantage of full-frame DSLR cameras is that lenses designed for 35 mm film cameras provide the same angle of view on the new DSLRs as that to which photographers were accustomed on their film cameras. This can be very useful with wide-angle lenses and with zoom lenses whose ranges were chosen for the full-frame 35 mm format. The full-frame sensor can also be useful with perspective control or tilt/shift lenses; in particular, the wider angle of view is often more suitable for architectural photography.

Other uses of full-frame

CCD image sensor architectures

The term full-frame is also used to refer to a type of charge-coupled device sensor techology in which the sensor elements occupy the entire sensor surface rather than sharing space with associated pixel storage sites.^[3]^[4]

The use of full-frame CCDs is typically restricted to digital SLRs since they require the use of a mechanical shutter and do not output a continuous image. The two uses of the term full-frame are not otherwise related.

135 film cameras

In 35 mm (135 film) cameras, the terms full-frame and half-frame were used to distinguish the 24 × 36 mm and 18 × 24 mm film formats;^[5] the half-frame 35 mm film format is also known as single-frame in movie film, and as a result, full-frame film cameras were sometimes known as double-frame.^[6]

Nikon D3

Nikon D700

Past & present full-frame digital SLRs

The Nikon E2/E2n and E3/E3s digital SLRs, which were Nikon's first entry into the field of professional digital photography, used a reduction optical system to compress a full 35mm visual field onto a smaller digital sensor. They were not therefore full-frame digital SLRs, although in common with full-frame digital SLRs they had no crop factor.^[7]

Nikon has designated its full frame cameras with the FX and its smaller sensor cameras as the DX format.

Prototype full-frame digital SLRs

Pentax MZ-D (presented in 2000, based on Pentax MZ-S, with the same sensor as Contax N, it never went into production)

References

^ Nigel Atherton, Steve Crabb, Tim Shelbourne (2006). An Illustrated A to Z of Digital Photography: People And Portraits. Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. ISBN 288479087X.
^ Ross Hoddinott (2006). Digital Macro Photography. Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. ISBN 1861084528.
^ Albert J. P. Theuwissen (1995). Solid-State Imaging with Charge-Coupled Devices. Springer. ISBN 0792334566.
^ Patrick Martínez and Alain Klotz (1998). A Practical Guide to CCD Astronomy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521590639.
^ Frances E. Schultz and Roger Hicks (2003). Rangefinder: Equipment, History, Techniques. Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. ISBN 1861083300.
^ Leslie D. Stroebel and Richard D. Zakia, editors (1996). Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Focal Press. ISBN 0240514173.
^ Jarle Aasland, Nikon E2N, NikonWeb.com.