EF vs EF-S

[Argonx16]

Sorry if I posted in the wrong section, and sorry if this is a bit confusing to read, or if the title is misleading in any way

When taking the plunge into the magical world of DSLR's, I have formulated, and resolved many of my questions, but this one has been "bothering" me for a while now, and well, so I'm going to ask all you wise folk out there.

Okay, so well, I guess my question boils down to using EF lenses on a crop-sensor body, like a 7D or a 550D. Because people like throwing around terms like "FOVCF [of 1.6x]" and "equivalent 35mm focal lengths." Those two terms have led me [falsely?] to believe that if 2 people were to be shooting with the same exact lens (lets say 50mm f/1.2L), but one was using a full-frame, and one was using a crop-sensor body, then the crop sensor body guy would have more "reach" (zoom might be the appropriate synonym?) because of the 1.6x FOVCF.

So, to boil it down, in case you were confused, I want to know if a crop-sensor, and full-frame body, both using the same lens, get the same "reach" (zoom), if you use the same EF lens on both.

Thanks in advance!

[RichardTaylor]

See this thread, on this site.

Crop Factor Explained

[inkista]

The focal length/reach doesn't actually change, but it feels like it does. It's more similar to how cropping feels like zooming in.

[Argonx16]

[QUOTE=inkista;1148282]The focal length/reach doesn't actually change, but it feels like it does. It's more similar to how cropping feels like zooming in.

So, then if you but a lens on both cameras (crop and FF) you would see the same picture on both viewfinders?

[RichardTaylor]

No.

On the crop camera you will see less of the scene..

[prabbit237]

Originally Posted by inkista

The focal length/reach doesn't actually change, but it feels like it does. It's more similar to how cropping feels like zooming in.

Yeah, what he said

Basically, if you looked at an object that's 1' tall and is 10' away with an object that's 1' tall in the background at 30' away, then the background object looks 0.33 times as large as the other, no matter how much you zoom in or out or what your crop factor is, etc. Now let's say you used a full-sized sensor and then printed the picture to 8"x10" with no cropping or other adjustment. The 1' high foreground object may measure an actual 3" in the picture (and the background one 1".)

But if you stepped back to 16 feet away and put the exact same lens on a 1.6 crop factor camera and took the same picture, then the foreground object is still 1 unit in size but the background object now looks to be 16/36 or .44 units in size and when printed the foreground object is still 3" but the background one is now 1.33".

This would apply no matter what the zoom (or focal length) of the lens was, no matter the distance away from the objects, etc. If you adjusted the distance so the original picture had the same view sideways (all objects that were in the frame on one are in the frame on the other) then you change the apparent size of foreground and background (or the perspective of it all.) Use the same distance and you simply cropped down the frame, NOT zoomed into the view.

Originally Posted by Argonx16

So, then if you but a lens on both cameras (crop and FF) you would see the same picture on both viewfinders?

No, on both cameras, WISIWYG ("What you see is what you get." In fact, the viewfinder can sometimes crop off even smaller by a tiny amount.) If you look at a fence with a smaller sensor camera and see 10 posts in the viewfinder side-to-side, you'll get the same 10 posts in the picture. The full sensor pic AND viewfinder might show 14 posts at the same distance, focal length, etc.