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Photography Question 

Denny H. Grizzle Jr.
 

Lenses for Full-Frame Nikon D3?


I understand that the Nikon D3's sensor is a full-frame sensor and that the use of DX lenses end up using a smaller portion of the sensor's potential? It also appears (from my research) that the portion that it uses is only around a 5 megapixel portion. So what type of lens do I need to put on the camera to get full use of the 12.1 MP sensor? Is there an FX lens? Am I missing something? Please help.
Thanks!


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October 07, 2009

 

Jon Close
  You can turn Auto DX Crop to OFF. But even so, DX lenses project a smaller diameter image circle onto the sensor. They will not fill the frame of the entire D3 sensor. (See pp. 60-64 and 382 of the D3 manual.) All Nikon lenses without the "DX" or "IX" label are FX and will fill the image sensor.


P.S. With respect to third party lenses:
Sigma DC, Tamron Di II, and Tokina DX are similar to Nikon's DX line in that they have the smaller image circle. I don't know if they communicate that to the D3 and its Auto DX Crop "feature."
The Sigma DG and Tamron Di are FX or "full frame" lenses.


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October 07, 2009

 
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