Can You Mix Full Frame and Crop Lenses? Here’s How It Works

Using a full frame lens on a crop sensor camera—or the other way around—has its quirks, especially when it comes to field of view, resolution, and camera settings. Understanding these factors can help you make better lens choices for your camera setup, giving you more control over your shots.

Coming to you from David Bergman with Adorama, this straightforward video clarifies the differences between full frame and crop sensor cameras, especially the effects on your field of view and image resolution. Bergman first explains that full frame sensors match the size of a 35mm film frame, a standard in high-end cameras today, while crop sensor cameras use smaller sensors, typically APS-C or micro four-thirds. A smaller sensor means a narrower field of view when using the same lens, essentially cropping the image. Canon crop sensor cameras, for instance, have a 1.6x crop factor, so a 50mm lens effectively gives you the field of view of an 80mm lens on a full-frame camera, which can be useful for adding reach when shooting distant subjects like wildlife.

Bergman goes on to explain that while you can use full frame lenses on crop sensor bodies, doing the reverse requires some adjustments. Full frame lenses project a larger image circle to cover a bigger sensor. A crop sensor body only captures a portion of this circle, which creates the “zoomed-in” effect on the image. However, using a crop sensor lens on a full frame camera is trickier, as the lens doesn’t cover the whole sensor, leaving dark edges around the frame. Some cameras, like Nikon’s DSLR and mirrorless lines, address this with an automatic crop mode, switching to a smaller image area when you mount a crop sensor lens on a full frame body. Bergman mentions that this is convenient because it eliminates the need to crop in post-processing.

An interesting part of this video covers in-camera crop settings, which let you crop into the image directly in the camera. Bergman notes that Nikon cameras, for instance, allow users to choose from multiple crop settings, including a 1.2x or 1.5x crop, or even a square format. These options can help if you need a specific aspect ratio or a tighter crop without doing it in post. However, Bergman prefers to avoid these modes, explaining that it’s often better to capture the full image and decide on cropping later, preserving as much resolution as possible. You also need to be careful with full frame DSLRs, as the mirror can sometimes strike an APS-C lens.

Bergman also touches on practical uses for these crop modes. Using a crop setting can improve burst shooting speed and save storage by recording a smaller area, which could help when shooting action. However, for general use, it’s often best to avoid in-camera crops in some models, as they lock you into a specific crop that you might want to adjust in editing. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Bergman.