Whats better about a 'Full Frame' DSLR?

Question

Whats better about full frame DSLR camera's and how do they differ to normal ones? There very expensive!

Answer 1

As with all photography, the larger the format, the more information can be recorded on the film (sensor)

In the arena of Full Frame vs. APS-C vs. 4/3rds not only is the format larger, the individual pixels are too .... that means less image noise at high ISO's

Full Frame = 36 x 24 mm

APS-C = 23.6 x 15.8 mm

4/3rds = 18.00 x 13.50 mm

The tiny sensors on P&S cameras are mostly 6.13 x 4.60 mm sensors

Answer 2

Pretty low noise. Whatever lens is used--is what you'd get as there is no crop-factor. Optical viewfinder is usually larger--a pleasure to look through.

All my photos (except 2) were taken with Canon 5D that you can view here.

http://www.flickr.com/little_pooky

Answer 3

To simplify - everything you see in the viewfinder will be in the photo.  Some of the cheaper cameras don't actually capture everything you see in the viewfinder.  

Answer 4

The sensor in a full frame DSLR is the same size as a 35 mm film frame, 36x24 mm. Typical point-and-shoot cameras have a sensor that's tiny by comparison, maybe as small as 8x6 mm.

A single pixel in a full-frame DSLR has about 10 times the area of one in a P&S. That means that it can collect 10 times the amount of photons (light energy) as the P&S. Image quality is highly sensitive to noise, in particular the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). The noise tends to be dominated by thermal and electrical properties. Thus the noise per pixel in a DSLR vs a P&S might not be too different. But since the signal in the DSLR is 10X higher, you can see that the S/N ratio will be much better in the DSLR.

That's why you see DSLRs capable of excellent images at ISO 800, while a P&S looks miserable at 400, if it can even go that high.

DSLRs also support far more shooting options, have far better (and interchangeable) lenses, and extremely rapid focusing and shooting.

Answer 5

Full frame sensors are different from normal sensors (APS-C, APS-H, or four thirds sizes typically) in that they are the same size as a 35mm piece of film, thus making them considerably larger than 'normal' sensor. A full frame sensor offers much less noise at high ISOs and allows for higher megapixel counts(usually). The reason there is less noise is, because of the larger area, the individual photosites are farther apart, thus reducing noise. As well, they offer higher megapixel counts than most other cameras . consider that Canon's flagship camera, the EOD 1ds Mark III has a massive 21.1 mp sensor. This is , once again, because the sensor is larger, so more photosites can be placed on the same piece of silicon. However, this is not always true. The full frame nikon D3 has 12.1megapixels which is the same as the Canon XSI - an APS-C sized sensor camera. Remember that the denser the photosites are on the sensor, the more prone to noise the sensor will be. The reason full-frame cameras are so expensive is because less chips can fit on a single wafer of silicon, and because the yield on the chips is much lower. With such a large piece of silicon, defects are common and many have to be thrown out.