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Digital cameras come in varying sensor sizes, some being full frame, others APS-C and others MFTs. The following MFT vs full frame guide will help you determine which camera sensor can suit the lighting conditions of your real estate interiors or depth of field needs when shooting close-ups.
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MFT and full-frame relate to the camera sensor sizes and not the construction quality or design of the camera body. That means you can get MFT and full-frame cameras with or without weather sealings. However, MFT cameras tend to be mirrorless, while full-frame cameras can be mirrorless or DSLRs with reflex mirrors.
MFT is an abbreviation for Micro Four Thirds, a camera system that uses a mirrorless technology body and a four-thirds-sized image sensor. Without a reflex mirror, the light from the subject passes through the camera lens directly to the image sensor.
Unlike a DSLR, an MFT camera uses an electronic viewfinder instead of the optical viewfinder. These cameras were introduced as lightweight, interchangeable lens cameras by Olympus and Panasonic in 2008.
Full-frame specifically refers to the size of the camera image sensor rather than a specific camera system. Usually, a full-frame camera features a sensor size of 35mm, which is equivalent to the traditional film of 24mm x 36mm.
These cameras were introduced as DSLRs by Pentax, Contax, and Canon from around 2000 to 2002. Keeping in mind that full-frame is all about the sensor size, modern full-frame cameras can be DSLRs with reflex mirrors and optical viewfinders or mirrorless cameras with electronic viewfinders.
Both full frame and MFT cameras are some of the modern digital cameras in the market, suitable for beginners and professional photographers. However, since they have different image sensor sizes, they have different light capturing capabilities, making them have the following physical and operational differences.
Although MFT and full-frame sensors differ in size, the following design and operational similarities make them capable of shooting sharp and bright images in a wide range of lighting conditions and ISO settings.
Although both cameras can shoot sharp and bright images in good lighting, the difference in image sensor sizes makes them have the following differences when shooting in low-light conditions or when applying selective focus techniques.
The camera sensor collects light using small boxed photo-receptors known as pixels. However, these pixels are flat, and the amount of light they collect depends on the surface area of the individual pixel. Since the MFT image sensor is physically small, the individual pixels are also small compared to those of full-frame sensors.
For instance, if a full-frame camera has a 20.3-megapixel sensor and an MFT camera has a 20.3 megapixels sensor, the overall surface area for collecting light in the full-frame camera will be larger.
Since low-light performance primarily depends on the amount of light the sensor can collect, full-frame cameras can capture brighter images in low-light than MFT cameras.
The focal length, which is the distance between the camera sensor and the lens when you focus on a subject, affects the camera's field of view. Remember that the lens focal length is based on the full-frame 35mm format, so mounting a lens on a full-frame camera doesn't affect the effective focal length.
On the other hand, since the MFT sensor is physically smaller, it crops out the edges of the frame, making the resulting field of view smaller. Typically, this makes it look like you are shooting with a longer focal length, and the subject seems zoomed in.
For instance, since the MFT has a crop factor of 2x, mounting a 200mm lens on a full-frame camera will give you an effective focal length of 200mm, while mounting it on an MFT camera will give you an effective focal length of 2 x 200 = 400mm.
Background blur refers to blurring the subject's background to make the subject look more focused and emphasized by applying selective focus techniques. Usually, the background depends on the depth of field, where a shallow depth of field results in a pleasing blur and bokeh quality.
Since an MFT sensor is smaller, you will need to move about two times farther to capture the same field of view as the full-frame camera. Since you will be changing the subject distance without changing the focal length, MFT cameras result in a deeper field of view.
On the other hand, since you will be closer to the subject to get the same field of view when shooting with a full-frame camera, the depth of field will be shallow, and the resulting image will have a pleasing background blur and bokeh effect.
Aspect ratio refers to the relationship between the height and width of a video or image the camera shoots. Typically, this primarily depends on the relationship between the camera sensor's length x width.
By default, a full-frame camera shoots images at an aspect ratio of 3:2 while an MFT camera shoots at an aspect ratio of 4:3. In fact, the name micro-four-thirds results from the 4:3 aspect ratio.
The major distinguishing factor between an MFT and a full frame is the size. The sensor size of an MFT camera measures 17.3mm x 13mm, while a full-frame camera measures 36mm x 24mm, making the MFT cameras smaller and more compact compared to full-frame cameras.
Although the camera weight might vary depending on the construction materials, the compact nature of MFT cameras makes them more lightweight than their full-frame counterparts. The size and weight difference are even bigger when comparing MFT cameras vs. full-frame DSLRs.
Keeping in mind that an MFT camera is mirrorless, compact, and lightweight, it’s the best to use in the following situations.
Since the full-frame sensor doesn’t affect the lens’s effective focal length and the large size allows it to collect more light, it’s best to use it under the following circumstances.
The full-frame camera is better for capturing real estate photos as it can capture the interior in low-light conditions and wide-angle photos of the exteriors with a larger field of view. However, an MFT might be the right choice if you want a compact and lightweight walk-around camera.
The above MFT vs Full frame will help you choose a camera sensor size that will suit your lighting conditions and depth of field when applying selective focus techniques. A full-frame camera is better for shooting in a wide range of lighting conditions, while an MFT has better portability.
