Ratio comparing a camera sensor's size to 35mm full frame, affecting field of view and depth of field.
Definition
The crop factor describes how much smaller a camera sensor is compared to 35mm full-frame (36x24mm). A crop factor of 1.5x means the sensor is 1.5x smaller and therefore delivers a 1.5x narrower field of view.
Practical Application
Super 35 (APS-C equivalent) has a crop of ~1.5x, Micro Four Thirds ~2x. A 50mm lens on Super 35 corresponds to the field of view of a 75mm on full-frame. This significantly influences lens choice and depth of field calculations.
Technical Details
Crop Factor = Diagonal Full-Frame / Diagonal Sensor. Larger sensors offer shallower depth of field at the same focal length and field of view. ARRI ALEXA 35 (Super 35), RED V-Raptor 8K (Vista Vision), Sony Venice (Full-Frame) demonstrate the range.