What is the crop factor of the Nikon D300S?

The Nikon D300S is equipped with an APS-C sensor, whose diagonal measures 28.4mm. The sensor has a crop factor (or format factor, or focal length multiplier) of 1.5.

The crop factor is defined as the ratio of the 35mm full-frame film diagonal to the diagonal of a digital sensor. This number indicates how a lens behaves in relation to the size of the image sensor.

Sensor size comparison with a film slide

With a crop factor of 1.5, the sensor in the Nikon D300S is smaller than the receptor area of a 35mm film slide or negative. As a result, a lens that is attached to the Nikon D300S will offer a narrower angle of view and provide deeper depth of field than a lens of similar focal length and aperture on a film camera. The equivalent focal length is obtained by multiplying the actual focal length of the lens with the crop factor. For example, a 33mm lens on the Nikon D300S will provide the same angle of view and depth of field as a 50mm normal lens on a film camera (33mm * 1.5 = 50mm).

Sensor specs and performance

The table below compares the sensor specs of the Nikon D300S to those of several similar cameras. The reported DXO values are indicators of the sensor's imaging quality (higher is better), covering color depth (DXO Portrait), dynamic range (DXO Landscape), and high-ISO noise (DXO Sports). Larger sensor cameras tend to outperform cameras of the same generation that are equipped with a smaller imager. On the other hand, larger sensors are more expensive and require bigger and heavier lenses than smaller light receptors.

Sensor Characteristics

		Camera Model	Sensor Class	Resolution (MP)	Horiz. Pixels	Vert. Pixels	Video Format	DXO Portrait	DXO Landscape	DXO Sports	DXO Overall
1.		Nikon D300S	APS-C	12.2	4288	2848	720/24p	22.5	12.2	787	70
2.		Canon 7D	APS-C	17.9	5184	3456	1080/30p	22.0	11.7	854	66
3.		Nikon D3S	Full Frame	12.1	4256	2832	720/24p	23.5	12.0	3253	82
4.		Nikon D90	APS-C	12.2	4288	2848	720/24p	22.7	12.5	977	73
5.		Nikon D200	APS-C	10.0	3872	2592	none	22.3	11.5	583	64
6.		Nikon D300	APS-C	12.2	4288	2848	none	22.1	12.0	679	67
7.		Nikon D500	APS-C	20.7	5568	3712	4K/30p	24.0	14.0	1324	83
8.		Nikon D700	Full Frame	12.1	4256	2832	none	23.5	12.2	2303	80
9.		Nikon D3000	APS-C	10.0	3872	2592	none	22.3	11.1	563	62
10.		Nikon D3100	APS-C	14.2	4608	3072	1080/24p	22.5	11.3	919	67
11.		Nikon D7000	APS-C	16.1	4928	3264	1080/24p	23.5	13.9	1167	80

In the United States, the D300S was initially launched in July 2009 at a price of $1,799.

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Camera to camera comparisons

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