Crop in Lightroom or set to crop sensor?

[sin77]

These days newer Nikon cameras like D600 and D7100 can zoom further by using a cropped sensor setting. This feature is similarly used in Olympus and Panasonic cameras.

My question is, which one will achieve a better result? Crop in lightroom or set the sensor to cropped mode?

 

[Edwin Francis]

The 'better result', if you mean maximum image quality, is achieved by using the full sensor and cropping by moving yourself or changing focal length. The other 2 are compromises.

Of course it is sometimes advisable to shoot with a slightly looser crop, so you can change your mind or make adjustments later.

AFAIK the crop mode for FX bodies like the D600 is used when you use a DX lens. Not sure what the crop mode in D7100 is for.

 

[kandinsky]

Not sure what the crop mode in D7100 is for.

For stills, result is pretty much the same as cropping in post. For video, think of it as a built in teleconverter mode.

In the 1.3x crop of DX mode, the 51 focus points cover nearly the entire frame, attaining extremely high capturing power even when shooting moving subjects. The 1.3x crop of DX achieves an image size of approx. 15.4 megapixels, a sufficiently high pixel count for general use, which delivers high-resolution images. Combined with high-speed continuous shooting at up to approx. 7 fps*2 enabled in this mode, this camera reliably captures moving subjects.

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/d7100/features01.htm