If you have one of the newer FX or full frame format cameras, you might be thinking that you have to upgrade your DX size lenses in order to get the full resolution of the FX sensor.  Not neccesarily true.  I shot the following three photos with FX mode enabled on my D700, using the DX Tokina 12-24 lens.

DX Tokina 12-24 Lens, 12 mm

DX Tokina 12-24 Lens, 18 mm

DX Tokina 12-24 Lens, 24 mm

All three of these photos were made at 12.1 MP, FX mode.  Normally, FX cameras have a mode that senses when you are using a DX lens, and crops the sensor to about 5 megapixels, in the center of the FX sensor, which replicates the DX size and prevent the vignette you see in the first photo above.  I disabled this and shot as if the lens was FX compatible.

Since DX lenses still meter, autofocus, zoom and generally work perfectly on the D700, there is really only one drawback which is that you can accidentally produce an image like the first one that is zoomed out far enough to capture the edges of the camera hardware.  But if you are willing to frame your shot with some care, you still have a “true” FX 18-24mm lens (anything under 18mm vignettes) that works at the full resolution of the FX sensor.  To me, this is worth living with rather than upgrading to the expensive (and admittedly awesome) Nikon 14-24.  I’d rather shoot this way at 12mp than use “DX mode” and get 5.

Here are some other shots I took recently with the DX lens using this technique while we were checking out the construction of our new house here in northern Virginia. (that’s me below with my lovely wife Teresa)

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.