Seeking Advice

[bertam]

My camera (Sony A7 Mii) is a full frame camera.

1. In the custom menu there is an option to select 'crop size' and also 'auto crop size'. That doesn't seem to make sense when a full frame is available. Could anyone explain?

2. Whats the difference between (a) Optical zoom (b) Digital zoom?

Thanks in advance

[DickyOZ]

My camera (Sony A7 Mii) is a full frame camera.

1. In the custom menu there is an option to select 'crop size' and also 'auto crop size'. That doesn't seem to make sense when a full frame is available. Could anyone explain?
2. Whats the difference between (a) Optical zoom (b) Digital zoom?

Thanks in advance

1. My guess is this option allows you to select the aspect ratio of .jpg images. RAW images will always be the native resolution of your sensor. But you might want your jpegs to be 1:1, 3:2, 4:3, 16:9 etc. and this option will allow you to choose.
2. Optical resolution is selected by the glass in the lens. You can zoom in/out using the optics of a zoom lens. Digital zoom is where the software in the camera will increase the 'zoom' factor of an image by interpolating values between adjacent pixels. in the captured image. IMHO this is best done in PP.

Dicky.

[dje]

My camera (Sony A7 Mii) is a full frame camera.

1. In the custom menu there is an option to select 'crop size' and also 'auto crop size'. That doesn't seem to make sense when a full frame is available. Could anyone explain?

2. Whats the difference between (a) Optical zoom (b) Digital zoom?

Thanks in advance

Hi Bertam

If you are using FE lenses (ie lenses designed for full frame), the auto crop function is irrelevant. However you can fit an E mount lens designed for APS-C crop sensors (eg the A6000) and this will work but with significant vignetting in the outer areas of the frame. The "auto crop" function detects the "non-FE" lens and automatically applies a FF to APS-C crop, thus eliminating the badly vignetted areas. I'm not sure about Sony but a similar function on my Nikon also gives a framing guide in the viewfinder which allows you to account for the cropped image size when framing the shot.

Whether you want to use a non FE lens on this camera is a moot point but I guess some people might find it useful in some circumstances.

Dave

[NorthernFocus]

1. My guess is this option allows you to select the aspect ratio of .jpg images. RAW images will always be the native resolution of your sensor. But you might want your jpegs to be 1:1, 3:2, 4:3, 16:9 etc. and this option will allow you to choose..

On most advanced camera bodies the crop function works exactly as if the cropping was done on post processing. The camera simply "throws away" pixels from the cropped portion of the sensor.

One advantage of doing this is simply to save space on memory cards when shooting. It comes in handy with high resolution bodies. I use the crop feature quite often with the Nikon D810. For example when traveling I'll shoot full resolution on landscape photos etc. which may ultimately be printed large and hung on a wall. But for typical documentary family photos of the trip which will likely not be printed larger than 5x7(or not at all), I'll switch to DX crop mode and only use roughly 45 percent as much card space per shot vs full frame.