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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
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Features

It’s Time to Stop Using the Term “Full Frame”

Chris Gampat
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11/30/2015
2 Mins read

Last Updated on 11/30/2015 by Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujifilm 35mm f2 WR product images first impressions (9 of 9)ISO 4001-125 sec at f - 2.8

Full Frame has been a term in heavy use in the photography community for years now since the first digital full frame 35mm sensors were formed. Then medium format came about, and they had their own full frame format. Instead of having a sensor with full 645 field coverage, some sensors were slightly smaller than that–therefore not providing a true 645 format coverage.

This was one of the problems with digital initially–the cameras were designed to take lenses created to cover a 35mm film plane/sensor but the only options available for many years were APS-C film/sensor cameras. But then why was there no full frame APS-C moniker if 35mm and 645 have their own? And to that end, why wasn’t it called full frame APS?

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony a7 Mk II product photos (4 of 8)ISO 1001-50 sec at f - 5.0

Inspired partially by this and the fact that there are many photographers these days who have never shot with film in their life, it makes sense for the industry to move away from this naming convention. Because of this, when medium format camera companies use the term “Full Frame” to describe their sensors it’s easy for someone to believe that the sensor is the size of 35mm film instead of a 645 film surface. Trust me, I’ve seen the emails! In that case, it would be tougher for someone to justify a purchase.

Even so, it still makes no sense as even APS-C film had its own sizes.

The Phoblographer APS film chart

In fact, it would make sense to call the 1.5x crop factor APS-C  sensors that most camera manufacturers use a full frame APS sensor. On that line of thinking, an Olympus Pen (the vintage film cameras) would be called a half-frame camera because of it being based on the comparison to 35mm film. However, the difference there is that it still used 35mm film whereas APS film cameras did not. The disconnect once again came from DSLRs being invented that used a smaller APS sensor but also lenses designed for use with larger than APS 35mm film.

frame-sizes

When you look at the sizes of other film planes and how large some can be when speaking comparatively, it makes sense that one could argue that 645 could be the true full frame sensor for professionals in the digital. But indeed, these days full frame is often synonymous with a 35mm equivalent sensor size. Beyond that, everyone these days knows that there are professionals who do fantastic work with APS-C sensors, Four Thirds sensors, and even point and shoots. Again, on that line of thinking, one could argue that not having a full frame 35mm sensor could be putting down APS-C sensor cameras when indeed they’re quite exceptional.

The industry should move forward from this naming convention as even in 10 years it would mean that APS sensors would still not be up to par with a 35mm sensor.

645 APS aps-c Cameras full-frame lenses medium format
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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