Canon
Full-Frame Cameras
© 2008 KenRockwell.com.
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Also see my other Canon Tests and Crop Factors Explained.
November 2009
INTRODUCTION
Canon makes cameras with three different sized image sensors.
These full-frame digital cameras use a sensor the same size as 35mm film. Full-frame is the way to go if you have the choice.
Consumer 1.6x cameras have a sensor 1.6x smaller than 35mm film.
Professional 1.3 x cameras use a sensor 1.3x smaller than 35mm film
The sensors in these cameras are the same as 35mm film: 24 x 36mm. (OK, the 5D shaves off a couple of tenths of a millimeter, but real film apertures vary this much, too.)
Canon Full Frame Cameras
1Ds Mk II (obsolete, replaced by 1Ds Mk III in August 2007)
1Ds (obsolete, replaced by 1Ds Mk II in April 2004)
All film cameras.
Ultra-Wide and Fisheye Lenses
This is my reason for owning one of these cameras. Canon only makes a fisheye for these size cameras. Canon makes no shorter fisheye for the smaller sensor cameras as Nikon does.
Canon's widest lens is the 14mm f/2.8 L, which for $1,800 gives the same 14mm view on these cameras as it does on a 35mm film camera.
The 16-35mm f/2.8L, 17-40mm f/4 L and 20-35mm are popular zooms. The 17-40mm is light and excellent, while the 16-35mm really does go noticeably wider but weighs even more and costs over twice as much. The Canon 20-35mm is a swell lens, but the people who spring for these full-frame digital cameras usually pass it by.
EF-S Lenses
EF-S lenses do not work on full-frame cameras.
These are special, shorter lenses designed especially to take advantage of the smaller sensors of the 1.6x cameras.
PLUG
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Thanks for reading!
Ken