UKC

I've just bought a used Micro four thirds camera and an adapter so I can play around with my old lenses.
I knew there would be a crop factor of two; from comments on here I also expected the image in the EVF to be poor and for there to be problems focusing sharply. I knew that the camera would work manually and possibly in AP mode.
No surprises so far, except this one: in some of the "creative" settings the image reverts to a full frame picture.i.e. no crop effect. I am not at all unhappy about this but don't understand how it can happen. Over to the experts, please.

(The camera came without handbook so there is a lot of trial and error going on)

In reply to Tom Valentine:

No idea how that would work as it's the sensor size that gives the crop factor, have you got a couple of example images?

In reply to Tom Valentine:

In short, it can't. "Crop factor" really means that useful light coming out of the back of the lens goes beyond the edges of the sensor, so the effective 'field of view' is less than it would be on a camera with the original sensor/film size.

Are you seeing images cropped with black edges, or something?

In reply to roddyp:

Glad to see that you and and BAdhoc are so sceptical about this because it seems a bit unreal to me, even though the photos are sitting in front of me.

Unfortunately I don't know how to post links to show you the evidence.

if either of you is willing to mail me an idiot's guide to posting photos on here I will gladly publish the pics.

In reply to Tom Valentine:




I think you are misunderstanding crop factor. What it means is that a 50mm lens you will only be able to fit in half a person at the same distance as if you were using the same 50mm lens on a fullframe dslr.

The effect of this is that unless you are experienced enough to know what 50mm will look like, you will never know the difference. The crop factor is just a simplified way of saying that your 50mm lens will act as if it was a 100mm lens in old money.

Here is a longer explanation http://digital-photography-school.com/crop-factor-explained/

In reply to Hannes:

I have used a 50 mm lens on an SLR for years. I also used it on a borrowed full frame Canon. As a rough rule I always consider that a 50 mm lens gives the same view as a human eye, though some say that should be more like a 40 mm lens.
So if I can manage to look through the viewfinder with my right eye and look at the same view with my left eye (not at all easy but possible with perseverance) and the images are more or less a match, that's what I call a "full frame" view.
Just done it again, on the landscape setting. When i move to Manual or Ap the image reverts to what I call the cropped view.i.e a short telephoto picture.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Well that's not really what most people would understand as "Crop Factor" with respect to digital cameras.

What camera are you talking about here? You say "When i move to Manual or Ap" - from what? (I take it "Ap" is Aperture Priority)

In reply to Tom Valentine:

If you can post them to flickr or similar with a link would that help?

In reply to JDal:

My understanding is that a 50 mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera will have a crop factor of 2 and become the equivalent of a 100 mm lens. Which bit is wrong?

In reply to JDal:

Apologies to all. The wider image on Landscape setting is actually close to 100 mm setting on a conventional zoom. The other one which I thought was a crop factor of 2 is actually well over 200 mm in comparison and has a nasty blue tinge to it.
So, no witchcraft after all and time to download the owner's manual!

In reply to Tom Valentine:




This makes complete sense. The lens is 50mm no matter what but the angle of view will be smaller than what you'd get on a bigger framed sensor. This is why photos of people will often look more appealing on larger sensored or larger format film as longer focal lengths are more flattering