Quote Originally Posted by BrianFoster
Now that Sony has come out with the very cool R1, I'm curious if there is anyone out there who has had any experience with full-frame sensors vs. the more common APS or CMOS sizes.

I have a new Nikon D70s, and I think it takes amazing pictures. Will there really be a difference in image quality with a full frame sensor? What's the big deal with full frame, besides not having to do the math with your lenses?
I have a D70 and I'm amazed at the image quality on A4/8x10 enlargements.

The advantage of a full-frame 24x36 sensor is you have more photosites/more pixels so you can crop the image without losing quality. Alternatively if the designer settles for less photosites but makes them bigger then you have higher sensitivity/less noise than on a smaller sensor.

The disadvantage of a full-frame sensor: the cost of the device increases exponentially with size. The Canon full-frame sensors are all CMOS which is cheaper to manufacture than CCD.

Canon are the only manufacturer still making cameras with full-frame sensors. They come out with a new sensor then two years later the others come out with an APS-sized sensor that has the same performance for a fraction of the cost.

Charles