Full-frame digital photos may appear cropped compared to film prints.
Camera developers model many features of digital cameras after their film predecessors. Digital film speed equivalence settings correspond to film speed ratings such as 200, 400 or 800 while white balance settings adjust for light-based color casts. Unfortunately, not all digital camera designers followed suit with digital camera sensors -- the area of the camera that captures and records images -- which gave rise to the term "digital camera crop factor." Not all digital camera sensors mirror the size of a 35mm film negative. This variation in size may initially confuse new digital camera users.
Definition
As photographers transition to digital technology, they often re-use their film-based accessories on digital camera bodies. When mounting a camera lens designed to coordinate with a 35 mm film camera on a digital camera that accepts interchangeable lenses, the image produced by the lens and the size of the image capturing sensor may differ. Photographers call this slight overlap the camera's digital camera crop factor. The phenomenon also becomes apparent when users of compact digital cameras request prints of their pictures.
Aspect Ratios
Since 35 mm film has graced the world of photography longer than digital, many assume a 4-inch by 6-inch print provides the full frame of any image captured, by any camera. As digital cameras evolve, designers have created sensors in various aspect ratios, not just the two-by-three ratio made popular by 35 mm film. For example, full-frame prints made from a charged coupled device sensor, or CCD, measure 4 inches by 5.4 inches, not 4 inches by 6 inches.
About CCD Sensors
Both compact and the larger interchangeable lens digital single-len reflex, or DSLR, cameras can utilize a CCD sensor, one of the smallest digital capture sensor types. The physical measurements of a CCD sensor dwarf a 35 mm film negative. Cameras utilizing a CCD sensor have an approximately 1.6x focal length modifier, meaning the resulting image will be 1.6 times the size of a 35 mm negative. For example, if you mount a 50-mm lens on a film camera and a DSLR and take a snapshot of the same scene using all the same camera settings, the image produced by the camera with the CCD sensor will appear slightly magnified. Since the sensor is smaller than the 35-mm negative, you won't see the image data recorded around the edges of the film negative on the digital image. The small sensor size has cropped off the data, making the digital camera crop factor visible.
Eliminating Crop Factor
If you don't want to worry about the digital camera crop factor, use a digital camera with a complementary metal oxide semiconductor, or CMOS sensor. Considered a full-frame sensor by 35 mm photography enthusiasts, a CMOS sensor offers the popular two-by-three aspect ratio. Everyday prints made from a camera with a CMOS sensor measure 4 inches by 6 inches. As of 2011, only DSLR cameras utilize CMOS sensors.
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