Crop vs Zoom

Is there such a thing as to much crop? I'd say 95% of the pics I take gets a pretty hefty crop in post. I'm still waiting on my Tamron 70-300, so maybe that will get me away from copping so much. I've noticed that you guys that zoom a lot have really smooth pictures, and sometimes I think mine look fake, because I crop so heavily.



I really dig this one...to me it looks like something from a 60's Sci fi movie...dunno how to explain it. I did add some contrast and saturation, and I believe "vivid" in the NXd. I'm curious how a 70-300 would have made this shot look.

A couple of people said that it looks fake.

I dunno. I think it's one of the coolest I've taken.

The problem with cropping is that the more you close in at 100%, the more the quality of the lens/cam/shot reveals itself. The larger the shot you use, the more you can downsample it for use here and thus the "better" it'll look.

If I use a full shot (6*4k) and scale it to 1000*800 for use here, it can even be out of focus to a degree and will still look pretty decent, while cropping a portion out of that same shot and use that at 1000*800 will show every issue it has.

To me, too much cropping is when quality starts to suffer. When exactly quality starts to suffer is a subjective matter; for some it is sooner than others.

I agree with J-see and how much cropping is too much is somewhat subjective but the less you need to crop the better.

I think this shot is cool btw and I'm not sure what it would have looked like taken with a 70-300, you might still have needed to crop just as much. Focal length is only part of the equation, how close your lens will focus also makes a big difference. The 18-55 kit lens has fairly close focusing so you can get near to the bee, focus on it and get it reasonably large in the frame. The 70-300 won't focus as close, so although you can zoom in more you will have to be further away to gain focus so the bee might not be much larger in the frame.

EDIT: If you've gone for one of the "macro" 70-300's then that may well focus relatively closely and fill the frame more with close up subjects so less cropping required most likely.

You can always use a close-up filter on the 70-300mm to increase magnification for macro work. That's how I started with macro on the D3300. I got the 70-300 and used a B+W close-up.

It's a compromise but once you know what to do, it works reasonably well for the little money it costs.

J what brand/model closeup filter?

Ta2Dave said:

J what brand/model closeup filter?

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I used a B+W NL4 diopter.

Jos. Schneider Optische Werke Kreuznach: NL-4

I had to dig here to find it; this is a shot I took with that combination. It's the full shot scaled down, not cropped.

Interesting...I'll play with the 70-300 once I get it, and I'll look for some deals on the filters. Thanks!

There is a big difference between cropping and zoom. Cropping is removing pixels. The tighter you crop the fewer pixels remain and seriously impacts the IQ. Zooming magnifies the subject at full sensor size. Another thing you get with longer focal lengths is compression. The distance between foreground, subject and background appear closer.

Macro is really not my area so there could be other effects that might impact your images.
I shoot mostly wildlife and even with 600mm (effectively 900mm with crop factor) I still do a lot of cropping unless I am very close or the subject is large. I try to crop the least possible to get an image and composition that pleases me.

Something I remember from many decades ago was an expression from a professor I dealt with

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch or TANSTAAFL for short.

Just like in the exposure triangle for a gain in one area you lose in another. The same goes with cropping,

I crop a lot, as I shoot with either 35mm or 18-55 at 55. Most of my bird and insect shots are cropped to 800x800 pixels, as that is where the bird/insect fills the area, and for WEB that is big enough. I would love to have a longer lens with AF as that will bring me closer, but till then crop it is. I have a screw driver AF 70-300, but that does not AF on D3300, and birding without AF just does not jell.

I am guilty of being "Sir Cropalot"

It is not about the size of your zoom it is getting close enough either by zooming or by stepping closer so that your subject fills more of the frame. Shouting a macro of a bug - you can get within centimeters. Shooting a hawk flying high overhead - even with a super zoom at 500mm you are going to 'crop-a-lot'.

Then what matters is how many pixels did you start out with - the more the merrier when mega-cropping.
And how sharp is the shot. Several factor determine this. Some lenses are sharper than others. My new 200-500 Nikkor is way sharper than the Tamron 200-400 it replaced. Handheld? Best have good VR. Lighting - it is all about the light. And of course focus point. You need to have nailed it to be able to crop in real close and still be in focus.

I don't like to crop much, but shooting wildlife there really isn't a way around it unless you're shooting in a zoo. How much cropping can one get away with and still present a quality image depends partly on the equipment and more importantly good shooting technique.
The sharper and with the least amount of noise one can get the image to start with, the more room one has to crop.

I prefer not to crop more than 50%, but like I said above it depends on how the original shot was taken. For landscapes and such, where getting close is not a problem I usually just crop very little where needed for composition, leveling and fixing distortion in some cases where I was being lazy to start with.

It's been my experience that the best results come from cropping the photo that you see in your head in the camera before pushing the button, not on the computer screen after the fact. But that's just me.

Totally guilty of mega cropping. But then again, small skittish birds in trees are never ever going to be close. This is made even worse as i'm always on the move (no sitting in hides or waiting with a tripod) and handhold. This is typical of the kind of cropping. (Cant find the original of the second image, but it was the shot after this first image)



After

MaxBlake said:

It's been my experience that the best results come from cropping the photo that you see in your head in the camera before pushing the button, not on the computer screen after the fact. But that's just me.

Click to expand...

That holds if you can get a larger image on the sensor. Cropping usually comes into play when the focal length of the lens you have does not have enough reach to get a big enough an image. Then there are times when carrying a long heavy lens (provided you have one) is not feasible, and you have to do with a shorter lens.