Crop vs Full Frame; Fuji VS Nikon

Fujifilm X-T1. One of the best Crop Sensor Cameras out there. Taken with D4.

Nikon D4. One of the best Full Frame cameras out there. Taken with X-T1.

I guess I will continue my website blogging experience with a comparison that many people talk way too much about, the "Full Frame vs Crop Sensor" camera debate. 

This post has been in the works for a while, hence the green plants (since I started it sometime during the summer, probably July or August). If you haven't seen it, Zack Arias has a fantastic video about this here:
All credit goes to Zack Arias.

Now there is SO much strife over "Full Frame" cameras and "Crop Sensor" cameras. As someone who has used and owned a slew of both, I can tell you that it doesn't really matter, in my opinion. I have gotten great images out of my D7000 and out of my D800. It just depends on your usage and preference, as well as budget. 

The main argument against Full Frame is obviously the greater expense that goes along with it. Your lenses have to be larger in order to create a larger image circle necessary to cover that larger sensor, thus making the lenses more expensive. The Sensor technology itself is also more expensive, with the sensors being around 2.3 times the overall area of an APS-C sensor (or crop frame sensor). 

Now this comparison is just done with a couple cameras and a couple fairly comparable lenses and my own opinions. This'll sort of end up being a bit of a comparison between the X-T1 and D4, as well (Though I want to do some sports comparisons when I get the Fuji 50-140mm f/2.8 to compare to my Nikon 70-200 on the D4). 

All the photos here were taken in Oak Park, in Minot North Dakota during a walkabout with my Wife.

I'll start out with some photos taken with the D4 and 50mm f/1.4G vs the X-T1 and 35mm f.1,4R. While these aren't as comparable, they were surprisingly close. 

Nikon D4 50mm f/1.4 1/500 ISO 1000

Fujifilm X-T1 35mm f/1.4 1/680 ISO 800

Now in these photos you can tell that wide open there is a slight difference in the Bokeh and the colors, yet I would say that for practical purposes (especially for doing client portraits and whatnot) no one is going to notice any difference between  them when printing. I have also decided to not put 100% crops in this post, as that isn't the point. The sharpness of the two at 1.4 is definitely comparable, with both of them showing a bit of softness, as is to be expected. 

Now that plus the two shots at the top are all that I really got comparing the 50mm equivalents, so lets move on to the 85mm equivalent lenses. The Nikon 85mm f/1.8 and the Fujifilm 56mm f/1.2 are as close as it gets to the same (I realize I should have used an 85 f/1.4, but I don't have one and I prefer the 1.8 version anyway).

these two photos are the main point of the post, and I am not going to put which camera each was taken on below the photo like normal, just to make the point that they are ridiculously close. Both pictures are of my lovely Wife who had just gotten her GoPro Hero 3+ Black that day!

Now these are edited a little bit, but both were shot wide open on their respective lenses, and to my eyes I don't see very much difference whatseoever, besides a little bit in the color in the greens that can be attributed to the different companies. I generally point people to a picture like this when they start getting all hot and heavy about "NEEDING FULL FRAME" in order to get the best photos. I have been leaving my D4 and D800 at home most of the time and just taking my X-T1 or X-Pro 1 out ,since it is so much smaller and easier to handle for general day-to-day outings (Or taking to Williston, which I'll probably do a post on that later.)

Since people will ask, though, the top one was taken with the Fuji, and the bottom with the Nikon. 

Here are a few more pictures taken with each camera taken wide open for some more comparison.

Justine enjoying her new GoPro. Fuji X-T1 56mm f/1.2 1/200 ISO 400

Justine Enjoying her new GoPRo. Nikon D4 85mm f/1.8 1/200 ISO 1000

I think that People just need to get out and use what they have, and not spend tons of money vying for the "next thing" (even though obviously we all do that, me included).  

something weird going on with the Bokeh here. I think it is because of the cheap vari-ND filter I was using. Oh well, still one of my favorites from the day. X-T1 56mm f/1.2 1/1200 ISO 400.

I feel this has gone on long enough. Thanks for reading, and I hope for any discussion in the comments (if anyone ever ends up reading this). 

Now does anyone want to donate to my "Pentax 645Z fund" so I can compare Crop vs Full Frame vs Medium Format?

Kevin Fedde
Fedde Studios