TOP CROP SENSOR CAMERAS

Size matters but bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Downsized APS-C and Micro Four-Thirds cameras not only shed some of the weight but they have hidden talents too

It’s often assumed that creative and enthusiast photographers prefer full-frame and even medium-format cameras for their ability to deliver a tighter depth of field and enhanced image quality at high-sensitivity settings. But that’s not the whole story. For travel, walkabout and candid street photography, smaller is better. Crop sensor bodies naturally have smaller image sensors, typically of either APS-C or Micro Four-Thirds format, along with a smaller, more lightweight construction. The same goes for their companion lenses, resulting in complete kits that are not just easier to carry around, but also enable you to shoot more inconspicuously.

The advantages don’t end there. While a tight depth of field is often preferable in portraiture and still-life photography, the opposite can be true in landscape and architectural photography – or, indeed, any time you want good front-to-back sharpness in a scene. And there’s certainly nothing inferior about the build quality, autofocus and metering performance, speed and outright image quality for some of the latest mirrorless crop sensor cameras.

There’s another bonus for action, sports and wildlife photographers in that the crop factor gives you an effective boost in telephoto focal lengths. For Fujifilm X and Nikon DX system cameras, it’s 1.5x, and a marginally greater 1.6x for Canon. Compared with APS-C format cameras, the rather smaller size of Micro Four-Thirds image sensors in OM System and Panasonic bodies results in a 2.0x crop factor. The result in all these cases is that you can get fantastic telephoto reach without needing a relatively huge, heavyweight super-telephoto lens.