There`s no reason APS-C can`t be a good enthusiast format, with the right lenses.
Full-frame is being touted as the future of enthusiast as well as professional photography. But IŽd argue that APS-C is still a highly capable format and one that makes sense for a lot of people. That could be true for an even broader group if it was properly supported as an enthusiast format. And, IŽd contest, one company has consistently done more to support the big brand`s users than the camera makers themselves.
The past few years have seen a wave of full-frame launches and, from the original EOS 5D through to the Sony a7 series and EOS RP, the falling prices of full-frame cameras have made them accessible to an ever-wider number of people. This focus on relatively profitable models (and lenses) is only likely to continue as the camera market contracts back to catering for a core of dedicated photographers, rather than trying to sell to everyone. But what does this mean for APS-C?
While all the buzz is around full-frame, the industry still sells more APS-C cameras and there are many, many times more of the smaller-chipped cameras in circulation than there are full-framers. Should these countless millions of cameras be seen as a temporary aberration, now being corrected, or can APS-C still be a good fit for enthusiasts?
The aberrant puny stepchild camera
Sony`s new a6400 camera has an APS-C sensor and some of the best autofocus performance around. It`s also got a decent lens on it in this photo, but it`s a lens that costs just as much as the camera itself.
ThereŽs an argument that APS-C is simply a quirk of history: that camera makers only embraced it because it was the largest format they could manufacture affordably enough to actually sell, and that they were always going to revert to `full-frameŽ as soon as it became cost-effective. But, while much of this is true, it that doesnŽt mean that APS-C is too small or can only be a stop-gap ...
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