The Nikon DX format is an alternative name used by

Nikon (, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...

corporation for

APS-C Advanced Photo System type-C (APS-C) is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System film negative in its C ("Classic") format, of 25.1×16.7 mm, an aspect ratio of 3:2 and Ø 31.15 mm field ...

image sensor format In digital photography, the image sensor format is the shape and size of the image sensor. The image sensor format of a digital camera determines the angle of view of a particular lens when used with a particular sensor. Because the image se ...

being approximately 24x16 mm. Its dimensions are about (29 mm vs 43 mm diagonal, approx.) those of the

35mm format 135 film, more popularly referred to as 35 mm film or 35 mm, is a Film format#Still photography film formats, format of photographic film used for still photography. It is a film with a film gauge of loaded into a standardized type ...

. The format was created by

for its digital SLR cameras, many of which are equipped with DX-sized sensors. DX format is very similar in size to sensors from

Pentax is a brand name used primarily by the Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company Ricoh for DSLR cameras, lenses, sport optics (including binoculars and rifle scopes), and CCTV optics. The Pentax brand is also used by Hoya Corporatio ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

and other camera manufacturers. All are referred to as

, including the

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

cameras with a slightly smaller sensor. Nikon has produced 23 lenses for the DX format, from macro to

telephoto A telephoto lens, in photography and cinematography, is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a ''telephoto ...

lenses.

lenses can also be used with DX format cameras, with additional advantages: less

vignetting In photography and optics, vignetting is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation toward the periphery compared to the image center. The word '' vignette'', from the same root as ''vine'', originally referred to a decorative bord ...

, less

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signa ...

and often better border

sharpness Sharpness ( ) is an English port in Gloucestershire, one of the most inland in Britain, and eighth largest in the South West. It is on the River Severn at , at a point where the tidal range, though less than at Avonmouth downstream ( typical s ...

. Disadvantages of 35mm lenses include generally higher weight and incompatible features such as autofocus with some lower-end DX cameras. Nikon has also produced digital SLRs that feature the larger Nikon FX format sensor that is the size of the

135 film 135 film, more popularly referred to as 35 mm film or 35 mm, is a format of photographic film used for still photography. It is a film with a film gauge of loaded into a standardized type of magazine – also referred to as a cas ...

format. In 2013, Nikon introduced a high-end compact camera with a DX-sized sensor, the

Nikon Coolpix A The Nikon Coolpix A is digital large-sensor compact camera announced by Nikon on March 5, 2013. It is Nikon's first consumer-oriented camera with a DX (APS-C) sensor, announced on March 5, 2013. It is the company's flagship Coolpix camera, but h ...

, featuring an 18.5 mm lens.

Implications

The smaller diagonal size of the DX format amounts to a narrower

angle of view The angle of view is the decisive variable for the visual perception of the size or projection of the size of an object. Angle of view and perception of size The perceived size of an object depends on the size of the image projected onto the ...

than would be achieved with the 135 film format (35 mm film or FX format), using a lens of the same focal length. Strictly in angle-of-view terms, the effect is equivalent to increasing focal length by 50% on a 135 film camera, and so is often described as a 1.5x focal length multiplier. This effect can be advantageous for

and

macro photography Macro photography (or photomacrography or macrography, and sometimes macrophotography) is extreme close-up photography, usually of very small subjects and living organisms like insects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is grea ...

as it produces a tighter crop without the need to increase actual focal length. However it becomes disadvantageous for wide-angle photography as a

wide-angle lens In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens refers to a lens whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens for a given film plane. This type of lens allows more of the scene to be included in the ...

for 135 film effectively becomes a normal lens for the DX format (e.g. 28 mm x 1.5 = 42 mm 135 film equiv.). This has led to the increased development of the DX format-specific lenses for the

Nikon F-mount The Nikon F-mount is a type of interchangeable lens mount developed by Nikon for its 35mm format single-lens reflex cameras. The F-mount was first introduced on the Nikon F camera in 1959, and features a three-lug bayonet mount with a 44mm thro ...

. Since these lenses do not need to cover the 135 film area, they are smaller and lighter than their 135 format counterparts of equal angle-of-view. The production of DX-specific lenses has also enabled the production of affordable wide-angle lenses for the format (e.g., 12 mm), whereas costly ultra-wide-angle lenses from the 135 format were formerly required. When DX format lenses are used on 135 format cameras,

often occurs, as the image circle does not cover the entire area of the 135 format. DX Lens On 35mmFilm Vignetting

Real sensor size

Nikon uses DX format sensors of slightly different sizes, although all of them are classified as APS-C (

crop factor In digital photography, the crop factor, format factor, or focal length multiplier of an image sensor format is the ratio of the dimensions of a camera's imaging area compared to a reference format; most often, this term is applied to digital ca ...

more than 1.3 and less than 1.7): * Coolpix A is a fixed-lens,

compact camera A point-and-shoot camera, also known as a compact camera and sometimes abbreviated to P&S, is a still camera designed primarily for simple operation. Most use focus free lenses or autofocus for focusing, automatic systems for setting the exposu ...

Lenses

Lenses for Nikon DX format

* 10.5mm 2.8G ED AF DX Fisheye * 35mm 1.8G AF-S DX * 40mm 2.8G DX Micro-Nikkor * 10-24mm 3.5-4.5G ED AF-S DX * 12-24mm 4G ED-IF AF-S DX * 16-85mm 3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX * 17-55mm 2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX * 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX * 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G ED AF-S II DX * 18 -55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-P DX * 18-70mm 3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX * 18-135mm 3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX * 55-200mm 4-5.6G ED AF-S DX *55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX * 70-300mm 4.5-6.3G ED AF-P DX

Current Vibration Reduction (VR) lenses in DX format

* AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm 4.5-5.6G VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-80mm 2.8-4E ED VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm 3.5-5.6G ED VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G VR II * AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-140mm 3.5-5.6G ED VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm 3.5-5.6G ED VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm 3.5-5.6G ED VR II * AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm 3.5-5.6G ED VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm 3.5-6.3G ED VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED-IF VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200mm 4-5.6G ED VR II * AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm 4-5.6G ED VR * AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm 4.5-5.6G ED VR * AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm 4.5-6.3G ED VR * AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm 4.5-5.6E ED VR * AF-S DX Micro NIKKOR 85mm 3.5G ED VR

References