Full Frame Weight

Full-frame (35mm) cameras are heavier than their crop-sensor siblings. Their lenses are heavier too. But how much heavier? After hauling my Nikon D3200 (DX 1.5x crop sensor) as well as my Nikon D600 (FX full-frame sensor) up and down and around, I thought I'd just run the numbers and see if the FX system was as much heavier as it felt.

Executive summary: Kinda.

While the FX system is nearly twice as heavy as the DX, it is still only "nearly" twice as heavy: 80% heavier, to be more exact. And if you factor in the tripod (which is the same), you end up at only about 50% heavier.

Equipment weight
		DX		FX	Ratio
Camera	Nikon D3200	505 g	Nikon D600	850 g	168%
Wide	Sigma 10-20/4-5.6	470 g	Irix 15/2.4	581 g	124%
Normal	Nikon 18-55/3.5-5.6	195 g	Nikon 24-85/3.5-4.5	460 g	236%
Tele	Nikon 55-200/4-5.6	300 g	Nikon 70-300/4.5-5.6	745 g	248%
Total		1470 g		2636 g	179%

Tripod	Velbon Ultra Maxi L	920 g	Velbon Ultra Maxi L	920 g	100%
Total w/tripod		2390 g		3556 g	149%

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But I feel the extra weight. Certainly when you've been hauling it around for a full day - and absolutely when you compare it to the third alternative: just bringing your cellphone. The FX kit is 3.5 kg of photo nerdery that you have to haul around forever when you're on a trip.

photography

Buying a Camera, Vattugatan 15

The shots are nice, though.

Compared to the D3200, the D600 delivers just that bit of extra colors and dynamic range - and utterly outperforms the crop-sensor in low light and astrophotography. The cellphone isn't even a starter in this competition. Ultimately, carrying another 1.2 kg to get the very best image quality when I'd otherwise be carrying 2.4 kg is worth it for me.

But I feel the extra weight.