TYPES OF CAMERAS

While the verdict is still out on whether a crop-frame DSLR or a mirrorless camera is the best body with which to upgrade from a point-and-shoot, crop-frame DSLRs are still a standard as one’s “first good camera.”

So what does a “crop-frame” mean? Basically, when lenses were first rated and named, they did so based on a “full-frame” camera. As a result, a 300mm lens is a true 300mm on a full-frame camera. However, because crop-frame DSLRs have smaller sensors than the big full-frame DSLRs, the lens has to be mounted a little bit differently, effectively giving it a multiplier effect. Without going into too much sciency detail, this means that for most crop-frame cameras, you are essentially magnifying your focal length. Thus, for a crop-frame with 1.6X effect, your 300mm would actually be a 480mm – allowing you to get much more zoomed in on the animal. This is great, right? Mostly it is. However, this also means that on your wide-angle end of the spectrum, it’s also multiplied. So a 24mm would actually be closer to a 38mm – becoming less wide and less ideal for landscape shots and the like.

Fortunately, the makers of crop-frame cameras have specialty lenses dedicated to crop-frames. For Canon, the lens is called an “EF-S,” adding the “S” and Nikon affixes the “DX” label onto their crop-frame lenses. As a result, they can only be used on crop-frame sensors, but they do get extremely wide. For example, you can pick up a 10-22mm for a crop-frame, which is effectively a 16-35mm on a full-frame. Thus, very wide. However, because of the making of the lens, that same 10-22mm cannot fit on a full-frame camera. The reciprocal is entirely feasible, though, in that you can always put a full-frame lens on a crop-frame body. It just incurs the multiplier effect.

This isn’t meant to overwhelm you, but this is something to keep in mind when deciding on cameras. If you get a crop-frame DSLR and start collecting specialized lenses, you may have to reinvest significantly should you ever wish to upgrade to a full-frame camera.

FULL-FRAME CAMERAS

These are the big daddies of the camera world — both literally and metaphorically. They are without choice much bigger than a point-andshoot, and they are solid hunks of camera. However, they are also the top tier in the camera world, too, producing the largest, sharpest and most data-rich images out there. They have bigger sensors and come with highbrow tech inside their internal computers. Thus, you are going to get huge megapixels out of them. The newest models at the time of this publishing are 50 megapixels plus.

But with all this comes certain costs.

The first is the price tag – they are not cheap, with most models starting in the couple thousand dollar range (note: both Canon and Nikon now have a sub-$2,000 full-frame).

The second thing is what we already mentioned: They are usually bigger and heavier than other cameras out there. Since they are usually fabricated with a metal body, this heft is also a benefit, as they are generally very durable.

However, the biggest cost is that you lose your multiplying factor for your big lenses. That is, the 300mm that could be a 480mm on your cropframe just got shot back down to earth at 300mm. If you are mostly into