Why are modern full-frame DSLRs usually larger than older 35mm film SLRs?
Asked 7/7/2012
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When comparing a 1970s 35mm film SLR to a modern full-frame DSLR, the DSLR often looks much larger even though both use a mirror box and similar image format. If sensor and electronics can be made very small, why didn’t digital SLR bodies stay close to classic film-SLR size? What parts or design requirements make today’s DSLRs larger?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
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DSLRs have expanded massively is terms of features since the 70s, now your entry level DSLR has comparable AF system, speed, shutter as a pro SLR from the 90s!
The D800 pictured has to incorporate many things absent from your 70s SLR
- tough weather sealed metal chassis
- pop up flash
- AF sensor below the reflex mirror (why the camera is taller)
- large battery
- sensor, CPU, image processor, IO boards, metering sensor, LCD screen, top LCD screen
- two memory card slots, including compact flash, which is itself huge
- multiple external connectors
- ribbon cables to connect the above
- high performance mirror mechanism and metal bladed shutter capable of 1/8000s instead of simple cloth shutter
If you compare the D800 with a full featured film SLR such as the Canon 1V there isn't much difference.
There is demand for cameras of all sizes and so there are products to match. The reason micro 43rds cameras have a smaller sensor is as much to do with economics and lens size as it is to do with camera size. These days people aren't content with pancake primes, they want wide angle lenses and zooms, the pictured OM with a 20mm lens, or a 28-70 zoom would be much larger.
It is possible to put full frame sensors into smaller bodies, look at the Leica M9:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65892557@N05/6204395924/
The reason no-one has done a full frame digital version of the OM-1 is that it would be leica prices, digital sensors don't scale as well as film!
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Modern full-frame DSLRs are usually larger because they contain far more than a classic film SLR. Beyond the mirror box and viewfinder, they also need a sensor, image processor and support electronics, LCDs, memory-card slots, connectors, larger batteries, metering systems, and often a built-in flash. Many also use weather-sealed metal chassis and more robust internal structure.
A big factor is autofocus: DSLR phase-detect AF uses a dedicated AF sensor below the reflex mirror, which adds space and can make the body taller. Modern shutters and mirror mechanisms are also more complex and faster than older cloth-shutter film cameras.
So it’s not just “electronics got smaller”; the camera gained many features and higher performance requirements. If you compare a modern DSLR to later high-end film SLRs rather than simple 1970s bodies, the size difference is much smaller.
That said, full-frame DSLRs do not have to be enormous. Models like the Nikon Df showed that a more compact DSLR form is possible, but if minimum size is the priority, mirrorless designs still have the advantage because they remove the mirror and pentaprism entirely.
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