What did you change when you went from a crop sensor to a full-frame camera?

[James C.]

For those of you who have switched from shooting a crop sensor camera, to a full-frame camera:
What changes did you find that you needed to make to your shooting technique, the camera settings/functions you used most, or gear?

(I'd be especially interested to here from bird photographers.)

Thanks for your sharing your experiences.

 

[DRwyoming]

For those of you who have switched from shooting a crop sensor camera, to a full frame camera:
What changes did you find that you needed to make to your shooting technique, and/or the camera settings/functions you used most?

(I'd be especially interested to here from bird photographers.)

Well the obvious is longer lenses to make up for the missing crop factor. That or accept a wider, more environmental view and include more surroundings, all assuming you can't just get closer but presumably if most of us could safely get closer (safely for the subjects and ourselves) we would already have done that. If there are multiple subjects in the frame or for other situations where you might be concerned with DoF you might stop down another stop with FX relative to DX but that has more to do with using that longer lens from the same distance.

If birds or small mammals is all you photograph then that's most of it, get closer physically or optically or change your way of capturing your subjects to include more environment.

On the plus side of the jump, assuming you can fill your new larger frame you can typically accept at least a stop higher ISO if not more. That and the shallower DoF can be handy for isolating subjects against their backgrounds.

I've made the jump back and forth in the sense of shooting 35mm slide film (full frame) for years, then going to Nikon's DSLRs which were all 1.5x crop factor at the beginning. I loved how much easier it was to fill that DX frame and just had to compensate my wider lenses for things like landscapes.

Then when Nikon introduced full frame DSLRs and then mirrorless I've gone back to full frame for a lot of what I shoot though I still enjoy the D500 for a light weight walk around camera usually paired with the 500mm PF. But when I made the big jump from early DX DSLRs to full frame the immediate thing was how much harder it was to get close optically and how much more often I reached for a 1.4x TC with my 600mm f/4.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Since you emphasize "need" there's only one of two things(or both). Assuming you'll be shooting the same subject matter either get longer glass or get closer to the subject. Nothing different about technique. Although longer glass usually means bigger/heavier so if you normally shoot handheld you may need to start using tripod/monopod.

 

[John Navitsky]

pretty much nothing. but i’m kinda oblivious

 

[Fishboy1952]

So I went from the D500 to the D850, and have since moved to a Z9. The biggest issue I saw with going to the higher res body was operator induced blur. I didn’t see it that much on the D500, but it was more obvious on the D850. I primarily shoot almost 100% handheld. I found that going to the FF camera I had to go up a little on my shutter speed. I was was also more cognizant about trying to brace myself better. Those 2, primarily shutter speed helped in my technique. YMMV.

 

[pe1125]

The credit limit on my Visa card.

 

[NorthernFocus]

So I went from the D500 to the D850, and have since moved to a Z9. The biggest issue I saw with going to the higher res body was operator induced blur. I didn’t see it that much on the D500, but it was more obvious on the D850. I primarily shoot almost 100% handheld. I found that going to the FF camera I had to go up a little on my shutter speed. I was was also more cognizant about trying to brace myself better. Those 2, primarily shutter speed helped in my technique. YMMV.

That's odd since the D850 has a slightly larger pixel pitch than the D500. Were you shooting the same lenses with D850? Or getting closer and filling the frame better?

 

[Fishboy1952]

I was shooting the same lenses, and yes I probably was trying to fill the frame more. It wasn’t a significant difference but it did seem to point out areas where my technique could be improved. Going up in shutter speed seemed to help.

 

[mdirvin]

I found my two favorite lens a 400 f2.8, 300 f2.8, and a TC 1.4 were no longer adequate. Coupled with the DX I had pretty of reach. The 300 when to the back of the closet, and I added a 600 f4.