Good camera for T pics?

[The Snark]

Meaning if you have an entry level DSLR with an APS-C sensor (crop sensor) and you don't use a lens built specifically for that type of sensor, you will lose image quality. Can someone confirm or deny that?

yes

 

[Ghost56]

Speaking of lenses, I could swear I read somewhere that one has to make sure they are using a lens built for the size of the image sensor in the camera body. Meaning if you have an entry level DSLR with an APS-C sensor (crop sensor) and you don't use a lens built specifically for that type of sensor, you will lose image quality. Can someone confirm or deny that?

All lenses pretty much work just fine on a crop sensor (for canon anyways), but you have to do a little math. For canon, you just multiply any lens' focal length by 1.6 (APS-C) to get the actual focal length of that lens on a canon crop sensor. You will however run into a problem when using lenses specifically built for crop sensors on full frames. Usually they still work alright, but you'll get a lot of vignetting or softness at the edges.

 

[The Snark]

All lenses pretty much work just fine on a crop sensor (for canon anyways), but you have to do a little math. For canon, you just multiply any lens' focal length by 1.6 (APS-C)

Where did you find the 1.6 info? Nikon isn't giving me any clues here.

 

[Ghost56]

Where did you find the 1.6 info? Nikon isn't giving me any clues here.

Just google Nikon crop factors, and you should come up with something. The 1.6x is the crop factor for canon's APS-C sensors. I think canon also has a crop sensor with a 1.3x crop factor. Full frame would be considered 1x. Not sure if I answered what you were wanting to know, but I gave it a shot lol.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

All lenses pretty much work just fine on a crop sensor (for canon anyways), but you have to do a little math. For canon, you just multiply any lens' focal length by 1.6 (APS-C) to get the actual focal length of that lens on a canon crop sensor. You will however run into a problem when using lenses specifically built for crop sensors on full frames. Usually they still work alright, but you'll get a lot of vignetting or softness at the edges.

That's what I was thinking. Not a loss in image quality, but crop sensors decrease the field of view. So one could get a away with using a possibly cheaper lens with a shorter focal length like a 50mm to 60mm lens on a camera with a crop sensor to get an image with the equivalent of a lens with a longer focal length.

On another note though, all this talk about what camera and lens to buy and no talk on lighting. As a novice myself who just dabbles here and there with photography, I have found that lighting is everything when taking clear, sharp pictures on a DSLR or phone. Using my iPhone in in the shade outside to take pictures and some video has produced surprisingly good sharp images compared to using my DSLR in dim light. When I started shopping for an entry level DSLR I asked the same questions to myself. What is the best camera for my money, what is the best lens, etc. etc. and found I spent too much money and found later that I should have just bought a cheap tripod for my iPhone and a couple of cheap lights with soft boxes. In my opinion, you can't have a conversation on what gear to buy without mentioning that you're going to have to buy some kind of supplemental lighting rig if the majority of the pictures are to be taken indoors. Especially with macro photography.

 

[nicodimus22]

Where did you find the 1.6 info? Nikon isn't giving me any clues here.

Nikon (and almost every other APS-C camera) has a 1.5X crop factor, while Canon APS-C has a 1.6X crop factor. Why? Ask Canon. They're the only company that does that.

 

[The Snark]

I have to give the Nikon D3400 and similar credit for a couple of things. The fast focus and shooting is phenomenal. Like sports or wildlife photography it takes around 10 frames per second at I think 6000x4000. Also, the battery life is ridiculous. As in shoot pics and videos all you want and, no exaggeration, recharge it once a month. We took 1 1/2 hours of video and the battery was still 90% charged. It's weird how this works.

 

[advan]

Speaking of lenses, I could swear I read somewhere that one has to make sure they are using a lens built for the size of the image sensor in the camera body. Meaning if you have an entry level DSLR with an APS-C sensor (crop sensor) and you don't use a lens built specifically for that type of sensor, you will lose image quality. Can someone confirm or deny that?

All lenses will work on crop sensors. Crop sensor designed lenses still work on full frames but will have a lot of vignetting. And most FF now a days have crop sensor mode and will(with Nikon) automatically turn it on when the camera senses a crop lens. Now for FF lenses on crops, you are actually getting the best part of the lens performance throughout the picture. Most lenses perform the best in the center of the image and IQ decreases as you go out to the corners. A crop actually crops a the corners out, leaving the best(sharpest) portion of the lens.

Canon is x1.6 - So a 100mm lens on a FF is 160mm field of view and a Canon crop.
Nikon is x1.5 - So a 100mm lens on a FF is 150mm field of view and a Nikon crop.
Most of the new mirrorless cameras are x2 crop.

Focal length on a macro prime is important due to working space at full 1:1 macro. The longer focal length you have the further away from your subject you will be at 1:1. It helps for lighting(by giving you more room to work with when lighting your subjects), staying a safe distance from a cranky spider and keeps you further away from flighty insects/arachnids out in the field etc.