Embarrassing question...

[David J. Littleboy]

I love the 1.6 multiplier!! There is a group of guys that are just
waiting for a full size sensor, while I am hoping it does not
happen for a long time.

Why? Just crop.

Because the full-frame area is 2.56 times the area of D60 sensor, but it's unlikely that the first few generations of full-frame sensors will be 2.56 times the number of pixels (15.4 MP), i.e., the resolution per unit area is going to be lower, and cropping will leave you worse off than the D60.

I'd bet that it's going to be a very long time before we see a 15.4 MP 35mm DSLR. Maybe never. There are very few lenses that resolve that well at the edges, let alone the corners, so it just doesn't make sense. 9MP would be fun, though.

--
David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

 

[Robert Batey]

It's the same for all lenses on any camera. I have the same effect when using my sinar 4x5 film camera with a roll film back. Since the roll film is smaller (6x8 cm) it is exactly the same as cropping in on a 6x8 cm section of a 4x5 image, or narrowing the field of view. The extreme wide angle of a 75mm4x5 lens is cropped to the field of view of a moderate wide angle in the 6x8 cm format, giving you the "multiplication factor". With the Sinar I can sometimes take advantage of this effect by switching film formats to extend the range of my lenses.

 

[Ron Parr]

Because the full-frame area is 2.56 times the area of D60 sensor,
but it's unlikely that the first few generations of full-frame
sensors will be 2.56 times the number of pixels (15.4 MP), i.e.,
the resolution per unit area is going to be lower, and cropping
will leave you worse off than the D60.

Hard to say. The only full frame sensor you can buy now first hit the market in 1999 and obviously was designed well before then. The pixel desnity on the Philips sensor is comparable to other sensors of roughly that era, e.g., the 2MP Nikon D1. Therefore, I would not conclude that any modern full-frame sensor would necessarily have less dense pixels that today's smaller sensors.

--
Ron Parr
FAQ: http://www.cs.duke.edu/~parr/photography/faq.html
Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/parr/