Is DX superior to FX?

donaldejose

I like that Sony AF system and I like the EVF. Let's hope Nikon copies both and offers them on a body soon.

spraynpray

Sevencrossing Coming close is not good enough

S& P Oh yes it is

As in the past, we will have to agree to disagree

Mo Farah won the 10,000 m in the 2012 Olympics
The guy who came second, was close, very close, any one remember him name

I wouldn't mind disagreeing with you if I thought you had actually got the point of my post. Never mind your strange comparison, why not compare a Mini with a Ferrari? If the Mini came as close to the Ferrari as the mirrorless GH4 did to the D4s, people would all be saying what a great car the Mini is to be so close to a Ferrari.

BTW it was Galen Rupp with Tariku Bekele third.

sevencrossing

That kind of AF system is simply not practical in a DSLR.

I had not realized portraiture has changed .
I was taught, to focus on the eye , the one nearest the camera, not the face

face recognition? my eye sight is fading but I can still recognized a face

Ade

@sevencrossing

As mentioned in the video, the A7R will automatically focus on closest eyeball of whichever face you selected -- virtually anywhere in the frame.

That's not something your D800 -- or any DSLR -- can do by itself. Heck as @PitchBlack complains the D800 doesn't even have AF points throughout the frame.

And Sony isn't standing still, either. They will continue to bring new innovations to mirrorless designs. At some point the advantage of these new systems over DSLRs will become so wide, Nikon would be in trouble if they didn't follow suit.

@PM_PM

Yes but in Live View, the camera basically operates as a mirrorless. Why bother having a mirror if it's going to be locked up?

And soon viewing through an EVF would be like having a nice big-screen monitor right on your camera.

PB_PM

Face detection in live view on DSLR's could easily be improved to do that. Face detection currently isn't that great, but is usable.

sevencrossing

@sevencrossing

As mentioned in the video, the A7R will automatically focus on closest eyeball of whichever face you selected -- virtually anywhere in the frame.

sorry I missed that
as ever, we seemed to have wondered off topic

donaldejose

"As mentioned in the video, the A7R will automatically focus on closest eyeball of whichever face you selected -- virtually anywhere in the frame." BINGO! That's what I want Nikon to add to its AF. And to get back on topic, I want it on a DX sensor body.

haroldp

Shooting subjects that do not move (portraits, city / landscape) , I will always choose the focus point, often with a Leica, but also with Nikon DSLR using single autofocus, center point and then re-compose. It is 3D autofocus for fast moving subjects where any of this matters to me.

When shooting city or landscapes, I am lately with Leica (M9) or Fuji XE-1, since fast focus dos not matter in that circumstance, and size / weight do (to me).

.. H

WestEndBoy

I am going to go off topic and answer the thread's original question.

No.

donaldejose

Incorrect answer. Sometimes DX is better. When you want a smaller lighter body with lighter lenses, when you want to get more reach from your existing telephoto lens, when you want to have more working distance with your macro lens, when you want to spend less money, etc DX is better. When you want the shallowest DOF or the highest clean ISO or the best image quality for huge enlargements FX is better. With the advent of the 24mp DX sensor in the latest generation DX bodies I think FX has lost some of the advantage it had in the D3/D700 generation. DX is just closing the gap for all reasonable size printing.

proudgeek

+1 The only thing I would add is that it's not "better," but a better option based on the criteria and user needs you described.

PB_PM

Incorrect answer.

There is no right or wrong answer here. It totally depends on your budget, needs, expectations, and how you work with your gear.

manhattanboy

as ever, we seemed to have wondered off topic

Agreed. Let's get back to talking about @PitchBlack's post, because its my favorite of this thread. :-bd

It's totally not a lens issue and I don't want focus points to dictate my style. If you want the head at the top of the frame... or worse, if you're shooting landscape using more or less the rule of thirds with the head at the top, you're basically screwed. The photo below is hard enough to frame in DX and basically impossible to frame with the D800. If shot wide open with focus on the eye on a D800, you're probably going to be left with a 10 megapixel file.

michael66

It's totally not a lens issue and I don't want focus points to dictate my style. If you want the head at the top of the frame... or worse, if you're shooting landscape using more or less the rule of thirds with the head at the top, you're basically screwed. The photo below is hard enough to frame in DX and basically impossible to frame with the D800. If shot wide open with focus on the eye on a D800, you're probably going to be left with a 10 megapixel file.

Everyone keeps telling me to use the back button focus ( I do and love it ). What's wrong with locking the focus on her eyes ( her eyes are up here! ) and then composing? I am asking as a newbie not as a pita.

Ade

At wide open apertures (with very thin DoF) it's very easy to lose the focus when recomposing, since you are shifting the plane of focus in an arc, which often results in back focus.

Golf007sd

Hello

michael66

Ade, Pitchblack Doh! Of course. ::serious face-palm:: Thanks for the explanation.

Hi Mariana! :x

Is it okay to hate you, just a little bit, pitchblack?

Paperman

Do you need an assistant Pitchblack ? Will work for food .....

donaldejose

My comment about a new autofocus system is directly on point. It doesn't matter if it is FX or DX, the issue is being able to focus on a point near the border. However, at the present time in the Nikon world, it does seem that DX will allow for a larger focusing area than FX.

spraynpray

...and of course, if you use your D7100 in crop mode (micro 4/3rds size), the focus points almost cover the 16mp sensor.

donaldejose

good point spraynpray: now that DX has 24 megapixels even in crop mode a D7100 has as many pixels left as a D4 gives you full frame.

PitchBlack: How many megapixels do you need? Is 16 enough? And are you ok with shooting an f1.4 lens at f1.4 on a DX body or does that not give you sufficient bokeh?

SquamishPhoto

I would say that the improvements found in the D7100 are significant over the D7000 and the D5200 I tried in January, but fall quite short when compared to a D800. For me, the main reason for getting the D7100 was for when I want to carry a lighter bag and for that purpose its been great. Beyond that I would probably not have a reason to own it.

donaldejose

PitchBlack: Sure makes sense. So the only answer is AF which covers almost full frame. I would also think an F1.4 lens on a DX body wouldn't be good enough for you.

Does the Sony AF system in the Gary Fong video Ade posted above look like it would address your needs?

NSXTypeR

I am a DX user too, mainly because of price. I can say that FX is definitely stunning in performance if money is no object.

Thom Hogan used the D7100 for his Galapagos trip with the new 80-400.

http://bythom.com/photographic-travel/south-america/galapagos/galapagos-workshop-2014/equipment-used-at-the-works.html

donaldejose

PitchBlack: I understand all that. What about the Sony AF system in the video posted by Ade? It seems that system would do for you what you want, even identify and focus on the nearest eye. If so, it seems like you can only get what you want if Nikon produces a mirrorless FX body. As I understand it from other postings, a DSLR secondary mirror can never give you full frame focusing. But I wonder if the Sony AF system could be added to a Nikon DSLR in the Live View mode?

I will be interested to hear how your experiment works out for your style. The Sigma 35mm on the D7100 should give you the same subject to camera distance as the Sigma 50mm on the D800.