canon 40D crop resolution comparison

Uploaded on Feb 18th, 2008
by sid6581

All Sizes

So scherbi and I were discussing crop vs. full frame resolution differences today in regards to super telephoto photography (birds, etc). I decided to make a chart that depicts the resolution in the APS-C sensor area for each of several Canon cameras. I was quite surprised to find that the 40D beats everything else in this area. It appears to top all other Canon DSLR models in terms of raw pixels/mm (175). Even my old 10D beats out my new 5D by 1.2M pixels! So if I had the choice of using a cropped body or full frame (cropping during post processing instead) for super telephoto shots, it would seem as though the cropped body would yield higher resolution. FYI - These calculations were done by taking the native resolution of each camera's sensor and cropping it to the 40D sensor size. Sorry I did not have room to show the native 1D resolution in this diagram.

Share this with Friends

Pownce it!
Embed:

Comments

scherbi

4 months, 2 weeks ago:

very informative.

Dialogue

sid6581

4 months, 2 weeks ago:

Another interesting fact: if you scaled the 40D sensor resolution to a full 35mm frame, it would be 6300 x 4200 (26.5 M pixels)

Add to this dialogue

David Chu

4 months, 2 weeks ago:

Even my D40 beats your 5D (when 5D is scaled down to APS-C size, anyway).

Dialogue

sid6581

4 months, 2 weeks ago:

Yup. Anything with APS-C sensor size >5M pixels will beat the 5D in terms of pure pixels/mm resolution. Now, keep in mind I LOVE my 5D - it just seems to me it's not the best choice if you spend a lot of time on the long end of a telephoto.

David Chu

4 months, 2 weeks ago:

I do want my 50mm f/1.8 to go wider, though.
...
Buy me a 5D + the cheap 50mm f/1.8 MK II :D.

sid6581

Want to post a comment?

Please Sign-In OR Sign-Up

Extra Information

2 people have called this photo a favorite

This photo has been viewed 305 times.