Is the Micro Four third image ful image or cropped (like APS-C)?

Newbie q - I am under the impression that the Micro_4/3 although having a smaller sensor compared to aps-c, will contain full image with the use of standard fitted lenses.

I am a Pentax owner and looking for a compact travel camera like Omlympus PEN E-PL6

I don't get what you mean. Micro 43 is "full size", and as is aps-c and "full frame"...

You get a "cropped" image when shooting with an APS-C lens on a full frame Nikon camera for example.

Jhaakas wrote:

Newbie q - I am under the impression that the Micro_4/3 although having a smaller sensor compared to aps-c, will contain full image with the use of standard fitted lenses.

I am a Pentax owner and looking for a compact travel camera like Omlympus PEN E-PL6

The mFT lenses are  natively designed to cover the mFT size sensor. If you are looking for a compact travel camera have you looked at the Panasonic LX100 if you can use the focal range it offers quite a range of features

All of my pictures seem to cover the full frame.

I think you might not understand what the term "crop sensor" means.  Even on a crop sensor camera, you're seeing the whole image, though you might be using a lens that can see more of a scene than the camera can capture as an image.  Quite frankly, don't worry about terminology.  Instead, ask yourself, what do you really want from a camera, and which camera does the best job of that?

Photo Pete wrote:

Micro 4/3 lenses are designed to match the micro 4/3 sensor size, which is smaller than full frame and APS-c sensors. This is why many m4/3 lenses are smaller than the alternative full frame or APS-c lenses which would give the same angle of view in your photo... They are designed to only cover the area of the smaller m4/3 sensor.

Alternatively, if you try to use a lens designed for a smaller sensor on a larger sensor you will end up with very heavy vignetting or an image which is just a circle in the middle of your photo. That is because the lens is not designed to or able to project an image which will cover all of the larger sensor.

Hope that helps?

Thank you all for the replies, and Photo Pete for above details. This what I was looking for - answered my question. If I get a 4/3 with a matching lens (ag 14-42) that is designed for 4/3 - I will be fine! This will suit my travel needs.

Just a note. Get a Micro 4/3rds lens and not a 4/3rds one. 4/3rds was a previous format.

Enjoy!

F.

FrankS009 wrote:

Just a note. Get a Micro 4/3rds lens and not a 4/3rds one. 4/3rds was a previous format.

Enjoy!

F.

Thanks for the headsup .. yes noted the difference and will chek for the microFT!

Micro Four Thirds uses the full image frame. This oddity among crop sensor interchangeable lens cameras does peoples heads in in equivalency debates but Micro Four Thirds is full frame. What you get is edge to edge 100% of the lens. As such Micro Four Thirds sensors have to be made to a greater degree of tolerance unlike APS-C cameras such as the Nikon/Canon/Pentax APS-C camera that use a full sized lens where edge sharpness might be worse, but it doesn't matter because you don't see the edges.

I do like olympus cameras but not their 14-42 lenses. The panasonic kit lenses are better IMHO. Best lenses are 12-32 14-42mk2 and 14-45. The GM1 with 12-32 is super small and great. If you get an olympus do not buy the PL6 but PL7 (or P5) for the 0s anti shock feature. The most competent affordable camera would be the GX7 with 14-42mk2. All IMHO (H=Humble)

I believe your Pentax uses an APS-C sensor, which is typically referred to as a 'crop' sensor.

That simply refers to the fact that it has a smaller sensor than a "Full Frame" 35mm camera (the full frame being a 36mm x 24mm sensor, whereas APS-C is 23.6mm x 15.6mm). So, if you used a lens designed for a full frame camera, your sensor would only capture a portion of the image that same lens would have captured on a full frame camera. Thus, your sensor effectively "cropped" the full frame image.

This means to take a picture from the same spot with your Pentax as with a full frame camera, and, get the same "field of view" (frame the same exact amount of the scene in each image), you would need a "shorter" lens. To get the same scene as a full frame gets with a 43mm lens, you'd need a 28mm lens on your Pentax.

Well, the MFT sensor is even smaller, 17.3mm x 13mm, so to get the same image as the full frame and APS-C sensors described above, you'd need to use a 21.5mm lens.

To calculate the full frame equivalence of an APS-C lens, you multiply the focal length by 1.5. For MFT, you multiply by 2.

So, MFT lenses will seem a little "longer" than the same focal length would on your Pentax. No negative implied, just something to keep in mind when looking at lenses.

The other difference is that the MFT aspect ratio (W/H of the image) is different than full frame or APS-C. Both of those are 3/2 format, whereas MFT is a 4/3 format, so, if you send your images to Costco (or other mass market printers) for 4x6 prints, they will come back missing some of the top and bottom of each image, or, you'll have white space on the sides.

Hope this helps more than confuses.

I think you'll find you MFT camera very capable and be happy with the results.

Jim Vincent wrote:

The other difference is that the MFT aspect ratio (W/H of the image) is different than full frame or APS-C. Both of those are 3/2 format, whereas MFT is a 4/3 format, so, if you send your images to Costco (or other mass market printers) for 4x6 prints, they will come back missing some of the top and bottom of each image, or, you'll have white space on the sides.

This is good info as I was wondering why it is called 4/3 (rather then 3/4 of maybe APS-C).

Jhaakas wrote:

Newbie q - I am under the impression that the Micro_4/3 although having a smaller sensor compared to aps-c, will contain full image with the use of standard fitted lenses.

I am a Pentax owner and looking for a compact travel camera like Omlympus PEN E-PL6

For technical information, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format

Regardless of the size of the sensor, cameras tend to use all of the area of the sensor (which is what the term "full frame" meant back in the days of film). By this definition, almost all cameras today use the full frame.

The Pentax APS-C sensor is 43% the area of the 35mm sensor. A lot of people refer to the 35mm sensor as "full frame", which (judging by your question) is a confusing term.

The Micro Four Thirds (m43) cameras use a "four thirds" sensor that is 61% the area of the Pentax APS-C sensor. Just like your Pentax camera, an Olympus Pen EPL6 will be able to take pictures of things and will contain the "full image" with the use of "standard fitted lenses".

Thanks ... Yes got it. The term "full" can be confusing. The camera will (and has to!) always take the full pic when used with the lenses that are designed for it!

secretworld wrote:

I do like olympus cameras but not their 14-42 lenses. The panasonic kit lenses are better IMHO. Best lenses are 12-32 14-42mk2 and 14-45. The GM1 with 12-32 is super small and great. If you get an olympus do not buy the PL6 but PL7 (or P5) for the 0s anti shock feature. The most competent > affordable camera would be the GX7 with 14-42mk2. All IMHO (H=Humble)

To the OP:
How much can you spend on a second camera? Olympus makes great cameras, and while secret world is right about the 0 sec shock feature, I used an E-PM2 for two years which lacked this feature and suffered very few instances of shutter shock. The E-PL6 with the tiltable screen is a nice camera which I think you will enjoy. Of course, if you have more money follow secretworld's advice and get a E-PL7 with the better stabilisation feature; it's a more updated camera.

In terms of lenses, nothing wrong with the standard Olympus 14-42 lens. I certainly think if you were going to buy your camera body only, I would consider a Panasonic 12-32, certainly that would be more appropriate fit to your camera then the 12-40 Olympus zoom suggested in an earlier post. That lens is too big and heavy for an E-PL.

Don't know your finances - but look at this deal: the E-PL6 and the standard kit 14-42 for $299. $299 and you're good to go with m43. Check it out - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=E-PL6&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=