1.3 crop or not ? (1 Viewer)

[shrek48]

Hi all, I am just discovering 1.3 crop mode and will try and play with it later today, any thoughts or knowledge on this, please make it idiot proof or a fools guide to as I am useless with techno ;-)
TIA

 

[Acid John]

A fool responding.
If using full frame cameras with FX lenses you will get an apparent closer image but with less pixels because you are only capturing the centre of the shot.

 

[nikonmike]

If its the in camera crop you are as well cropping later, it may give you an extra frame per sec but not a lot else.

 

[shrek48]

Sorry I should have said , I am using a D7200 with a sigma 150-600 contemporary.

 

[nikonmike]

All that crop does is crop the image exactly the way you would in PP, that's why its a 1.3 crop not a 1.3 converter

 

[njlarsen]

The thing that is unknown to me (because I have never shot Nikon) is if the focus gets more accurate in the crop mode. I have heard about other cameras where that is the case. But given that this is an optical VF and not an EVF, I guess not.

Niels

 

[nikonmike]

The thing that is unknown to me (because I have never shot Nikon) is if the focus gets more accurate in the crop mode. I have heard about other cameras where that is the case. But given that this is an optical VF and not an EVF, I guess not.

Niels

Its a lot of years since i tried it when i had my D7200, from what i remember it makes no difference to focus speed.

 

[Chosun Juan]

Hi all, I am just discovering 1.3 crop mode and will try and play with it later today, any thoughts or knowledge on this, please make it idiot proof or a fools guide to as I am useless with techno ;-)
TIA

I'm a very casual /unobtrusive photographer, so even with a 600mm lens it is difficult to fill the frame on all but the largest, 'tamest', birds. Therefore I'm nearly always in 1.3x crop mode.

The main benefits are:-

• larger bird image size
• cuts down on extraneous surrounds /sky
• gives an extra fps - taking the top whack to 7
• reduces file sizes (resolution down to 14.2MP from 24 - extending storage, and benefitting post processing too) and maximizes buffer
• brings focus points over more of the 'screen' - bringing them closer to the edge ( in reality, the superimposed reduced border of the 1.3x crop)
• can still see what is outside the border.
• can zoom out if a bird approaches closer. If you zoom out to 425mm or less, then you can use f5.6 (which gives you a full frame equivalent of 850mm f5.6). This is a FF dof equivalent of f8.4 which can yield nice blurred backgrounds.

Cons:-

• a bird may approach closer too quickly, and you would be throwing away detail
• if you can't zoom out and/or switch fast enough - you might chop wingtips or something
• cuts down on margin of error for recomposing the composition of the taken shot. I don't find this an issue on all but the largest birds very close in.

You can set the camera up to quickly toggle between one (1.3x) and the other (DX ) (fn button + control dial)


Interested to know if there are any dof /blurred background benefits in practice ?


Overall, I like it. There's something rather grin worthy about toting a quasi-1200mm lens !





Chosun 🙅

 

[shrek48]

Thanks all, I am finding faster more accurate focus and a sharper image, not sure if that is all down to 1.3 crop mode and much better "in focus" rate, prior I was hitting 3 good pics out of 10, now 8 out of 10 I am happy with 😜

 

[Maroon Jay]

Shrek, I have the same camera as you. I use the 1.3 crop all the time. I did some tests. Here are my results. Photo #1 was taken with the full DX sensor. It is 4496 x 3000 pixels (2.57 mb) and 300 dpi. I cannot post the photo as it is too large for Birdforum but it is basically the same as number three except much larger. Photo #2 was taken with the 1.3 crop. This gives you the equivalent of using a longer lens. For example, with a 400mm lens, you get the equivalent photo as if taken with a 500mm. It crops off useless space around the edge. It gives you a black box in the viewfinder so you will know exactly what is included in the photo and what is not. The size turned out to be 3600 x 2400 (1.5 mb), so about one mb smaller than number one. Photo #3 is the same photo as number one, but I cropped it in the computer to match the size of number two. Even though the size is smaller, it did not make much of a difference from photo one in appearance. Although the size is the same dimensions at number two, it takes up more space at 1.84 mb. Conclusion: The 1.3 crop is not the same as cropping to the same size in the computer. With photo #4, I cropped it in the computer to make it the same as number two. The size is 2300 x 1900 (1.4 mb). Conclusion: You have to crop a lot more in the computer to get the same photo as the 1.3 crop in the camera. The quality remained the same at 300 dpi in all photos. Overall conclusion: The 1.3 crop is an excellent feature and much better than cropping to the same size later in the computer. The only drawback is that if the subject gets too close, you might chop off the head or the wingtips. You must watch that the subject is within the black box. If not, you need to quickly zoom out or turn off the 1.3 crop.