No matter what your hobby is, there's probably a discussion about whether size matters when considering performance. For race car driving, it's the quality of the engine. For boxing, it's how hard you can hit. For photography, it's the size of the camera sensor that can really make the difference between your stock standard photo and a Pulitzer prize-winning image.
Previously restricted to professionals due to their cost, full-frame cameras offer more dynamic range than smaller APS-C crop sensors thanks to their increased size. Read on to learn more about full-frame vs crop sensors, including why sensor size matters and which cameras are suitable for your experience level.
Last updated: June 2025
What is a full-frame sensor?
In photography, the two main types of camera sensors are full-frame sensors and APS-C (crop) sensors. The easiest way to understand camera sensors is by comparing them to a fishing net — the bigger the net, the more fish you can catch. For cameras, the bigger the sensor, the more light and detail you can capture in a single image. If you'd like a broader overview of camera sensor sizes and how they compare — including Micro Four Thirds — it's worth reading up before diving into full-frame specifics.
Full-frame camera sensors measure 24mm × 36mm — roughly the same size as a single frame of 35mm film. APS-C crop sensors, on the other hand, are much smaller at 25.1mm × 16.7mm.
Why does sensor size matter?
It's not just the size of the sensor that matters — it's the size of the pixels. A 24MP photo features 24 million pixels per image. When captured on a full-frame sensor, those pixels can be much larger than on an APS-C sensor, which has a smaller surface area to spread them across.
This difference is most evident when shooting in low-light conditions. APS-C sensors can struggle to capture enough detail without introducing noise and distortion. Full-frame sensors, however, can capture more detail across both the darker and lighter areas of a scene for a more natural-looking image.
Although advancements in photography continue to push the limits of pixel density, the fact remains — size does matter.
Top tip: Shooting in RAW format will maximise the amount of detail you can capture, giving yourself more freedom during the editing and post-production stage.
Using lenses with your full-frame camera
Probably the most significant selling point for full-frame cameras is their shallow depth of field. An identical 50mm f/1.8 lens on a full-frame camera vs an APS-C camera will produce a different hyperfocal distance, resulting in more background bl