The Final Word on Sensors
Derek Smith • 8 August 2022
Nuthatch
Photo By: Derek Smith - Sony A7ii, FE 70-300mm, f/6.3, ISO 640, 1/100
Bee
Photo By: Derek Smith - Fuji XT3, XF 16-80mm, f/6.4 ISO 80, 1/100
Robin
Photo By: Derek Smith - Fuji XT3, XF 70-300mm, f/8, ISO 800, 1/280
Nuthatch
Photo by: Derek Smith - Olympus EM5iii, Olympus 40-150mm + x2 telecon, f/6.3, ISO 1000, 1/250
For me personally a camera with an APS-C sensor is the sweet spot for size, weight, cost, and performance. An APS-C camera usually has a kit lens with a typical focal length of 16-50mm, equating to the 24-70mm typical focal length of a full frame camera kit lens, because the APS-C sensor is smaller than the full frame sensor, the focal length of a lens will be 1.5 times smaller (1.6 times for Canon sensors) to obtain the same field of view.
For lenses I like to have a zoom lens of approximately 16-50mm, and a telephoto lens of 50-300mm, also I do like my fixed focal length lenses, these are called prime lenses, and a photographer can always use a “nifty fifty” 50mm lens, which in APS-C terms becomes a 35mm focal length, with a wide aperture of f/1.2 – f/2.0 for use in low light situations. Many photographers like a selection of prime lenses a typical trio of prime lenses would be 35mm, 50mm, 85mm in full frame terms, that’s 23mm, 35mm, 56mm in APS-C terms.
Nikon, has three APS-C mirrorless cameras, (which are termed as DX) the Nikon Z30, Z50, and the retro styled Zfc. DX Z mount lenses are as follows: 16-50mm, 18-140mm, 50-250mm, however for prime lenses only full frame are currently available, so not a bad start for a relatively new format.
Canon has recently introduced the APS-C Canon R7 which appears to be a professional standard camera, and can be purchased with the RF-S 18-45mm, or the RF-S 18-150mm lens, which should be good for travel. Again, currently no dedicated RF-S prime lenses, but the RF 35mm f/1.8 macro, and the RF 50mm f/1.8 can be used on this camera. For wildlife photography the RF 100-400mm could be a good match for this camera. Now that Canon have chosen to introduce an RF mount APS-C camera, questions inevitably arise over the future of the APS-C M mount system of cameras, and lenses.
Sony has three APS-C mirrorless cameras the A6100, A6400, and the A6600. I fervently believe that Sony dropped the ball on their APS-C offering, considering the Sony NEX 7 was introduced in 2011, with the E mount 16-50mm, and the 55-210mm zoom lenses. The basic rangefinder design of the camera has hardly altered in 11 years!!, still not very ergonomic, in fact the NEX 7 had more controls than its A6000 successor. I used the Sony NEX 3N, the A6000, and the A6300 extensively for a number of years, the auto focus was amazing, possibly even bettering some modern cameras, but the lack of lenses, and poor ergonomics led me to leave the brand. Sony APS-C lens development stagnated, with the R&D development budget used to develop the full frame A7 series of cameras, and lenses. Third party manufacturers Sigma, and Tamron filled the gaps in the APS-C lens line-up early on, and only now is Sony beginning to fill the gaps. Placed alongside the A6100 though, the Nikon Z50, the Fuji XT30, and Fuji X-S10 APS-C cameras all represent improved handling and a better range of native lenses at a similar price point.
Fuji, well where do you start? Fuji X-E4, XT30ii, XT4, X-S10, X-H2S, all APS-C cameras plus a full range of native lenses, in my very humble opinion the king of APS-C.
Images posted with this blog, Nuthatch taken with the Sony A7ii, and with the Olympus E-M5iii. The Bee, and Robin taken with the Fuji XT3.
Clearly the full frame sensor has greater dynamic range, but photographic skills, use of lighting, and choice of lenses will best any advantage that can be obtained from a larger sensor.
The answers to the “Summer Fun Quiz”
A-Monica Olympus O-MD E-M5iii, with Sigma 30mm micro four thirds system at f/5.6
B-Heather Apple iPhone SE
C-Marika Fuji XT20, with XF50mm f/2.0 APS-C system at f/4
D-Ruby Sony A7ii, with Samyang AF 45mm f/1.8 at f/3.5 full frame system
My personal favourite portrait is Ruby, but I don’t believe that this is entirely due to the sensor. Ruby was positioned in the centre of the room, some distance away from an east facing window with net curtains diffusing the light, and the pose strengthens the image. Next favourite is Monica, this time positioned close to the window in full sun, choosing the f/5.6 aperture to control the light, the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens (60mm full frame equivalent) was my lens of choice for portraits on micro four thirds, strangely I never took to the 25mm focal length (50mm full frame equivalent). The portrait of Marika was taken with the Fuji XF 50mm f/2.0 lens (75mm full frame equivalent), this was my first outing with the lens, I enjoy the focal length, better than the 85mm full frame lens, the pose, and lighting could have been improved to create a more stunning image.
Louth Photographic Society
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Roger Hance Memorial Lecture 16th October
Last night Lee Dixon from Cleethorpes Camera Club gave his first ever presentation to a camera club, which we were privileged to view. His presentation consisted of portraiture, creative, and his genre of choice; wildlife. Lee is an extremely talented photographer, with a highly creative portfolio, his portraits are quite atmospheric, unusual, and capture the essence of the model, and scene. For Lee’s creative work, he buys props from charity shops, often very cheaply, reusing those props in various scenes. For his composite work he will often take one of his photos of a room, and blend it with a subject in Photoshop using “blend” modes. For wildlife he visited Lake Kerkini in Greece to photograph the Pelicans, if the sky is a little on the bland side, Lee will often over expose the image resulting in a striking white background to the subject. On safari in Africa Lee showed us some amazing images of the wildlife, the close-up images of elephants, the wildebeest migration, and this stunning image of a cheetah. Lee was ably assisted by Mike Bennett. More of Lee’s work can be found on his website: https://leedixonphoto.co.uk/ Lee his kindly given permission for his images to be used in this post. Many thanks to Lee, and Mike for an amazing evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open", there was a very high-quality entry in both competitions and judge Mike Bennett had quite a job on his hands scoring the entries. Well, done to Dave Turner for first place in the Objects in the Air and Tony Gaskins for first place in the Open. All the results are on our website. This week, Wednesday 30th September, our speaker will be Lee Dixon from Cleethorpes Camera Club showing us his natural history, Creative and many other photographs he has taken. It will be the first time Lee has shown his photographs at our club. If anyone else wants to enter PDI's in the 2027 N&EMPF Exhibition, the deadline is this Wednesday at midnight. Harry is still taking entries for the PDI competition, with the categories of "Local Straight from Camera" (unedited .jpg), and "Open", to be held on Wednesday 7th October. Regards Graham
At the meeting last night Mike Bennett judged our competition with the categories of “Objects in the Air”, and “Open”. The standard of entries was excellent, and it gave Mike a tough task of judging the images, Mike gave some very good critique of the images displayed, the feedback helps members to develop compositional skills. Dave Turner was awarded first place for his image of the “Tiger Club Display Team” in the “Objects in the Air” category. Tony Gaskins was awarded first place for his image of the “Spectacular Rustgill” in the “Open” category.
Good Morning All, Last week at the club we watched the N&EMPF PDI Exhibition for 2026, it was a very good evening viewing very high standard images from all over the East Midlands. Dave Turner and I did manage to get images accepted; there is a full report on our website. This week, Wednesday 23rd September, we will hold our monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open", please send entries to Harry by midnight tonight. Harry is also accepting images for the PDI competition, with the categories of "Local Straight out of the Camera (only resizing permitted)" and "Open". Regards Graham
Members were shown the 2026 N&EMPF PDI Exhibition video last night with all of the accepted PDI images in the first part, and after the break the awarded PDI images. There were some stunning images on view, and Louth was successful in having 3 PDI images accepted, Graham Harrison with his image of a Stonechat, and Dave Turner with his portrait of Paul Rudd, and his monochrome image of Kings Cross railway station "Going Down". Overall it was a good inspirational evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club members had 15 minutes to show what they had done over the summer. It was a very interesting evening with eight members taking part. There were many locations on show and as usual some excellent photography. There is a full report on our blog. This week, Wednesday 16th September, we will be showing the N&EMPF exhibition, this is part one showing all the PDI's that were accepted. This is the highest standard of photography we as individuals take part in as a club. Members sent around 50 entries but only 3 were accepted. If you are inspired to enter the 2027 Exhibition after seeing the show, I send the clubs entries and I can give you more information. Closing date is the end of September. The Maximum size for N&EMPF is 1600 x 1200 3MB sRGB Harry is still taking entries for the monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open". Harry did ask about what can be accepted, and we couldn't really say as long as it's an object in the Air. The best way is to look up the definition of an object first. Harry is also accepting entries for the Local and Open competition in October. Robin is going to judge the Open competition, does anyone fancy judging the "Straight from the camera" category? Regards Graham
The Louth Photographic Society has returned after the summer break. It was an incredible return, with members providing us with some stunning images from over the summer break. A full, and varied smorgasbord of well executed photos, many of us visited Whitby, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and further north images from Staithes, and Sandbanks. Tony showed us his long exposure minimalist calming coastal scenes, from the Lincolnshire coast, and Whitby.. Chris brought us some beautiful photos taken of local churches, many of which many of us have never seen. Now I’ve never really seen the attraction of an expensive Leica camera, but when Mark showed his photos from his visit to the German Leica factory in Wetzlar, I now understand, camera bodies, and lenses milled from solid blocks of aluminium, hand polished, hand finished lens glass, and textured leather applied to the camera body, not a robot in sight, just craftsmen, and women making a superb photographic instrument. Sue brought us “pink” ladies driving tractors to raise money for cancer research. Last but definitely not least Richard showed his monochrome, and infrared images of trees, his compositions, and photographic eye bring these tree studies to life, we appreciate them even if some judges don’t understand. Many thanks to all of those members who contributed.
Good Morning All We spent last week on the Isle of Wight visiting many of the attractions. This week, Wednesday 9th September, we are back at the club with 15-minute PDI shows of what you did during the summer break, I have Derek Smith, Tony Gaskins, Harry Kerman, Chris Birchmore and Richard Hildred on the list, if I have missed you off, please let me know. I should be there but could be late as away playing golf. Harry is taking entries for the September PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open". Harry will miss the October local competition but will sort the entries out for us, The competition categories will be "Local-Not Edited" and "Open". We judge this competition in house so could do with two volunteers to judge. The local competition is a .jpeg photograph taken and straight from the camera, no cropping, or post processing etc, like the old days taken no more than 25 miles from St James church. Regards Graham
