APS-C Mirrorless and DSLR Cameras

Big on quality, small on size
eos r10 aps-c comparison sample

OVERVIEW

What is APS-C?

The sensor in an APS-C camera is smaller than the sensor in a full-frame camera. An APS-C camera does not capture the full width of the image that the same lens would produce on a full-frame camera – there's a "crop factor" of about 1.6x, which has the effect of zooming in on the scene, because your subject is that much bigger in the frame. This means that using a 200mm lens on an APS-C camera gives you a field of view equivalent to a 320mm lens on a full-frame camera – in other words, the "effective focal length" is 1.6x greater.

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APS-C EOS R System Cameras

Offering the very best of EOS R Series technology, the APS-C range of mirrorless cameras brings creativity to everyone.

APS-C EOS DSLR Cameras

APS-C DSLRs offer a traditional shooting experience with a bigger body, interchangeable lenses and an optical viewfinder so you can see exactly what you shoot, directly through the lens.

Why choose APS-C?

EOS R10 fullframe vs aps-c comparison

Get closer

The crop factor of an APS-C sensor makes smaller or more distant subjects larger in the frame, which in effect increases the effective focal length of any lens by 1.6x. This can be a major advantage in genres such as wildlife, action and sports photography. Using a high-performance yet affordable lens such as the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM on an APS-C camera gives an effective zoom range of 112-480mm, taking it into super-telephoto territory.

Maintain quality

You could crop images from a full-frame camera to create the same reach effect, but the megapixel count would be reduced, so the resulting images would be smaller and hence less sharp when enlarged again. Shooting with an APS-C format camera also saves the time and effort of manually cropping images at the editing stage.

eos r7 fullframe vs aps-c comparison
EOS 850D

Compact and lightweight

Because APS-C sensors are smaller, cameras can be made more compact and lighter, which is ideal for street and travel photography. Since a smaller image circle is required from a lens designed for APS-C cameras, the lens can be smaller and lighter, and consequently can be more affordable.

Lens Compatibility

Find out more about the different types of Canon camera lenses and how to tell whether they fit your camera.
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