Canon APS-C – Cameras and Explanation

If you’ve been shopping for a DSLR, or a Compact System camera, chances are you saw the term “APS-C” somewhere, but with no explanations of what it is and how it affects your photographs.

To beginners, it may seem like a bunch of complicated formulas and things you’ll never need to know, but if you plan on photographing for a long time and are willing to invest into a system, it’s best to learn as much as possible right now.

Canon Sensors

Canon uses 3 different sizes of sensors in their cameras:

• Full Frame
• APS-H
• APS-C

Full Frame has the same size as film (SLRs). APS-H is slightly smaller, and APS-C is the smallest of all. One of the main reasons for bringing APS-C out on the market was due to its small size and cost. As a result, cameras could also be much smaller, lighter and most important, affordable (like the original Canon Rebel/EOS 300D).

Here’s what makes this sensor so different from the rest!

APS-C Field of View

The APS-C sensor has a 1.6x crop factor, meaning it gets you 1.6x closer to your subject than Full Frame. A 50mm lens on APS-C is equivalent to 80mm on Full Frame, and it counts for all lenses that you put on your camera.

Your images don’t look any different though, they’re not smaller or anything, it’s just that the APS-C sensor gets you a little bit closer to the world, that’s it.

Crop Factor: 1.6x (multiply this number with any focal length)

APS-C Sensor Size: 22.2 x 14.8mm (FF is 36 x 24mm)

APS-C Advantages:

• Pricing – Smaller and lighter bodies, cheaper cameras

• Crop Factor – Getting close to your subject without actually buying longer lenses can save you a lot of money (great for sports and wildlife)

• Optical Issues – Since the corners of all images are “cropped”, you don’t get nearly as much vignetting (dark corners) or chromatic aberration as you would on Full Frame

APS-C Disadvantages:

• Noise/Low Light – Smaller sensors tend to have smaller pixels, which results in worse low light performance

• Crop Factor – It can also be quite bad if you’re trying to get as much as possible into your scene (landscape, clubs)

Canon APS-C Cameras:

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon EOS 70D
• Canon EOS 60D
• Canon EOS 50D
• Canon EOS 40D
• Canon EOS 30D
• Canon EOS 20D
• Canon EOS 10D
• Canon EOS 700D/Rebel T5i
• Canon EOS 650D/Rebel T4i
• Canon EOS 600D/Rebel T3i
• Canon EOS 550D/Rebel T2i
• Canon EOS 500D/Rebel T1i
• Canon EOS 450D/Rebel XSi
• Canon EOS 400D/Rebel XTi
• Canon EOS 350D/Rebel XT
• Canon EOS 300D/Rebel
• Canon EOS 100D/Rebel SL1
• Canon EOS 1200D/Rebel T5
• Canon EOS 1100D/Rebel T3
• Canon EOS 1000D/Rebel XS
• Canon EOS D60
• Canon EOS D30

*Cameras that don’t appear blue have been discontinued.

A couple of years ago APS-C was considered to be quite amateur-ish, but nowadays we even have professional cameras and lenses dedicated specifically for this mount. Canon calls them EF-S, and every brand has their own name. Click here to see the list of all Canon lenses.

If you are new to photography and need to purchase some gear to get going or to expand into another type of photography it is helpful to find some good deals. Due to its shear size and popularity Amazon Prime Day may be a good time to buy. If you feel overwhelmed by the options check out our guide to the best Amazon Prime Day deals for photography gear and we’ll help you select items that you need, not stuff just because there’s a sale.