More 2:3 ratio picture taking on Dig. Cameras?

[badtz]

Is there a reason why most manufacturers don't include 2:3 pixel ratios as one of the shooting options on their cameras?

Wouldn't that make sense to shoot at 2:3 ratio so you can print exactly the image on a 4x6 print?

At the present time, all photos have to be cropped [which isn't user friendly for newbies].

Is it that hard to incorporate 2:3 ratio shooting? Is Sony the only one that does this?

[reason: I'm extremely interested in the Panasonic DMC-FX7, but it doesn't have 2:3 ratio shooting, but it has 16:9 ratio. ]

 

[akerman]

2:3 ratio is kind of a useless feature in some ways. What happens is, that the camera just cuts off some pixels to each side of the picture, which you could do in photoshop afterwards instead - and thereby you'd have control over where to crop, possibly getting a better picture out of it.

What I'd really like is a 2:3 CCD or a 4:3 standard printing format though - or maybe even a CCD that could re-arrange its area, so that you'd have the same number of effective pixels available, with whatever ratio you might choose ;D

Is there a reason why most manufacturers don't include 2:3 pixel
ratios as one of the shooting options on their cameras?

Wouldn't that make sense to shoot at 2:3 ratio so you can print
exactly the image on a 4x6 print?

At the present time, all photos have to be cropped [which isn't
user friendly for newbies].

Is it that hard to incorporate 2:3 ratio shooting? Is Sony the only
one that does this?

[reason: I'm extremely interested in the Panasonic DMC-FX7, but it
doesn't have 2:3 ratio shooting, but it has 16:9 ratio. ]

 

[badtz]

The Sony cameras have this enabled.

2:3 ratio doesn't give you the full amount of pixels, but at least there's that option.

Example:

Sony DSC-P9 is a 4 megapixel camera, and in 2:3 mode, it gives you 3.5 megapixels.

Wouldn't it make sense for all cameras to at least offer this mode?

You COULD crop, but that's not always the most efficient manner.

And it's not newbie-friendly, and it's very cumbersome/time-consuming for the average joe.

2:3 ratio is kind of a useless feature in some ways. What happens
is, that the camera just cuts off some pixels to each side of the
picture, which you could do in photoshop afterwards instead - and
thereby you'd have control over where to crop, possibly getting a
better picture out of it.

What I'd really like is a 2:3 CCD or a 4:3 standard printing format
though - or maybe even a CCD that could re-arrange its area, so
that you'd have the same number of effective pixels available, with
whatever ratio you might choose ;D

 

[pschatz100]

I originally went digital precisely because I wanted to control cropping. It isn't a difficult thing to do, even for a beginner. Most decent programs make it easy to crop to standard aspect ratio's. Anyway, suppose you decide to print a 5x7? You'd have to crop.

My Nikon Coolpix offers a 2:3 setting, but I never use it and don't really see the need.

pschatz100

2:3 ratio doesn't give you the full amount of pixels, but at least
there's that option.

Example:

Sony DSC-P9 is a 4 megapixel camera, and in 2:3 mode, it gives you
3.5 megapixels.

Wouldn't it make sense for all cameras to at least offer this mode?

You COULD crop, but that's not always the most efficient manner.

And it's not newbie-friendly, and it's very
cumbersome/time-consuming for the average joe.

2:3 ratio is kind of a useless feature in some ways. What happens
is, that the camera just cuts off some pixels to each side of the
picture, which you could do in photoshop afterwards instead - and
thereby you'd have control over where to crop, possibly getting a
better picture out of it.

What I'd really like is a 2:3 CCD or a 4:3 standard printing format
though - or maybe even a CCD that could re-arrange its area, so
that you'd have the same number of effective pixels available, with
whatever ratio you might choose ;D

 

[Garry Schaefer]

Mty wife's Olympus C4000 offers 2:3 but, as in the other post here, it has never been used.

The Sony cameras have this enabled.

2:3 ratio doesn't give you the full amount of pixels, but at least
there's that option.

Example:

Sony DSC-P9 is a 4 megapixel camera, and in 2:3 mode, it gives you
3.5 megapixels.

Wouldn't it make sense for all cameras to at least offer this mode?

You COULD crop, but that's not always the most efficient manner.

And it's not newbie-friendly, and it's very
cumbersome/time-consuming for the average joe.

--
Garry

Garry's Page: http://www3.mb.sympatico.ca/~gschaef

 

[John Burns]

2:3 ratio is kind of a useless feature in some ways.

So is 4:5. My camera has a 2:3 ratio sensor so I have to crop to get 4:5 but get to use all my pixels for 4x6 prints. It all depends on how you look at it.

--
John

 

[Wayne Larmon]

Is there a reason why most manufacturers don't include 2:3 pixel
ratios as one of the shooting options on their cameras?

Wouldn't that make sense to shoot at 2:3 ratio so you can print
exactly the image on a 4x6 print?

Most DSLRs are 2:3. DRebel, for instance. This is yet another reasson to go DSLR.

Wayne Larmon

 

[Garry Schaefer]

to get an E-1 so that you can stay with 4:3 and print sx10 with very little cropping.

Most DSLRs are 2:3. DRebel, for instance. This is yet another
reasson to go DSLR.

--
Garry

Garry's Page: http://www3.mb.sympatico.ca/~gschaef

 

[Sami Rytkonen]

A2 has 3:2 ratio 7.1MP image size.

--

There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

 

[Garry Schaefer]

Oops...make that "8x10".

to get an E-1 so that you can stay with 4:3 and print sx10 with
very little cropping.

--
Garry

Garry's Page: http://www3.mb.sympatico.ca/~gschaef

 

[friedduck]

This has been problematic for me as well (I've only printed a handful of photos on a new Epson inkjet.)

The epson software will allow you to crop--but it's tedious. Is there a better way? (I have PS7, and some yet-to-be-loaded software from Canon as well, if it matters.)

TIA, Jeff

 

[pschatz100]

I would think that PS7 will allow you to crop to standard aspect ratios easily and quickly. Paint Shop Pro 8 has this feature and it is quick and easy to use.

pschatz100

This has been problematic for me as well (I've only printed a
handful of photos on a new Epson inkjet.)

The epson software will allow you to crop--but it's tedious. Is
there a better way? (I have PS7, and some yet-to-be-loaded
software from Canon as well, if it matters.)

TIA, Jeff

 

[Leejay Wu]

If I wanted to crop each image at different locations, there's no real easy way to do it.

If I wanted to crop each image with the same bounding rectangle, I'd figure out the coordinates (multiple ways of doing this; or, figure out what percentages to use) and then write a quickie Perl script to run a command-line program like ImageMagick's "convert" on all the images. It'd be a pretty short script. Others would probably prefer some script or action for PSP or Photoshop.

The three bits about in-camera cropping that might benefit versus later cropping during postprocessing would be --

• If you weren't going to do any other postprocessing, this might save you time (although really, a cropping script wouldn't take very much at all).
• If it showed in both the viewfinder and LCD for easier composition versus perhaps chopping off limbs or including distractions because your guesses were slightly off, and
• It would allow some storage saving, which might be useful if you're pushing the limits of your memory cards/sticks/whatever.

 

[Brian]

Olympus, Nikon, Sony, etc all make a number of cameras that are switchable. The only thing is that it is usually on their more expensive models.

Go to google and input the following into the search bar

3:2 ratio site:www.dpreview.com sony

Switch sony for whatever manufacture you want.

If your intensions are to print a lot at 4x6 then I guess it might be worth having.

Is there a reason why most manufacturers don't include 2:3 pixel
ratios as one of the shooting options on their cameras?

Wouldn't that make sense to shoot at 2:3 ratio so you can print
exactly the image on a 4x6 print?

At the present time, all photos have to be cropped [which isn't
user friendly for newbies].

Is it that hard to incorporate 2:3 ratio shooting? Is Sony the only
one that does this?

[reason: I'm extremely interested in the Panasonic DMC-FX7, but it
doesn't have 2:3 ratio shooting, but it has 16:9 ratio. ]

--
Brian

• C-7OO, and some other stuff

 

[Wayne Larmon]

Go to google and input the following into the search bar

3:2 ratio site:www.dpreview.com sony

Switch sony for whatever manufacture you want.

If your intensions are to print a lot at 4x6 then I guess it might
be worth having.

Is there a reason why most manufacturers don't include 2:3 pixel
ratios as one of the shooting options on their cameras?

Wouldn't that make sense to shoot at 2:3 ratio so you can print
exactly the image on a 4x6 print?

At the present time, all photos have to be cropped [which isn't
user friendly for newbies].

Is it that hard to incorporate 2:3 ratio shooting? Is Sony the only
one that does this?

[reason: I'm extremely interested in the Panasonic DMC-FX7, but it
doesn't have 2:3 ratio shooting, but it has 16:9 ratio. ]

--
Brian

• C-7OO, and some other stuff

 

[badtz]

The point is more, why doesn't the manufacturers give this feature (since it's obviously popular, for 4x6" prints)

?

 

[Brian]

Many do give it as I pointed out earlier.

Reasons not to give it.
a) most people using p&s digi cams have no idea what 3:2 ratio is.
b) It is extra programming to do
c) It is easy to crop 4:3 down to 3:2

d) most sensors are natively 4:3, why waste the pixels by shooting 3:2, especially seeing as how you can go back and accurately crop later.

The point is more, why doesn't the manufacturers give this feature
(since it's obviously popular, for 4x6" prints)

?

--
Brian

• C-7OO, and some other stuff

 

[pschatz100]

I can't believe there's no easy way to crop to a standard aspect ratio. I'm certain Photo Shop and Photo Shop Elements can do something like this:

You select a crop rectangle that is a standard ratio (say 4:6), then you grab a corner of the rectangle to size it the way you want, or you grab the center of the recatangle to move it around. Since I don't use Photo Shop, I can tell you the key strokes, but Paint Shop Pro does it, and the software I downloaded from Ofoto also does it - it's not rocket science.

It takes maybe 5 seconds to crop a picture - there's no need to fool with scripts.

pschatz100

If I wanted to crop each image at different locations, there's no
real easy way to do it.

If I wanted to crop each image with the same bounding rectangle,
I'd figure out the coordinates (multiple ways of doing this; or,
figure out what percentages to use) and then write a quickie Perl
script to run a command-line program like ImageMagick's "convert"
on all the images. It'd be a pretty short script. Others would
probably prefer some script or action for PSP or Photoshop.

The three bits about in-camera cropping that might benefit versus
later cropping during postprocessing would be --

• If you weren't going to do any other postprocessing, this might

save you time (although really, a cropping script wouldn't take
very much at all).

• If it showed in both the viewfinder and LCD for easier

composition versus perhaps chopping off limbs or including
distractions because your guesses were slightly off, and

• It would allow some storage saving, which might be useful if

you're pushing the limits of your memory cards/sticks/whatever.

 

[TheDigitalDonbavand]

most sensors are natively 4:3, why waste the pixels by shooting
3:2, especially seeing as how you can go back and accurately crop
later.

Surely thats the point - lots of people want 3:2 so there should be more cameras with 3:2 sensors (like my old Fuji MX2700)

Graham

 

[SWVodrey]

The point is more, why doesn't the manufacturers give this feature
(since it's obviously popular, for 4x6" prints)

?

--

Hello, I wondered the same thing but had resigned myself to cropping every photo I get developed at dotphoto.com, and in fact cropping has turned me into more of a perfectionist than I was with my little point and shoot cameras, since in cropping I have the ability to improve any photo.

Yesterday I was putting in an order for photos and learned that dotphoto.com had begun offering what they call 4 x D photos. This option enables anyone whose camera takes photos using a 1:1.333 ratio (for example, my C-2100 takes 1600x1200 pixels before I crop anything) to get a photo of exactly what the original photo was. Instead of cropping the 1600x1200 down to 88.75% of the original (1600 x 1067) in order to get a 4" x 6" photo, I put in an order for 4" x 5.33" photo. Whether or not I will think it is an improvement remains to be seen, since the actual photo I'll put in an album is 2/3rds of an inch shorter than 4 x 6. At least the entire image from my camera will be visible. I use Paintshop Pro for photo cropping and editing, mainly because it was half the cost of Adobe when I was in the market.

As for me I am looking forward to the luxury of having 5 mp to play with and crop to my heart's content, compared to my wonderful but smallish 2 mp Oly C-2100 UZ. When researching which camera to trade up to, the fact that many or all DSLRs offer an aspect ratio of 3:4 rather than my camera's 2:3 (strangely also known as 1:1.333) was tantalizing. My Oly C-2100 is still great. I realize there are many professionals and highly talented amateurs out there who do fabulous work with it. I saved my pennies and am due to receive a refurbished DiMAGE A1 in a day or so. I opted to stick with the 'prosumer' idea (the all-in-one, somewhat lighter weight camera)

rather than moving to a heavier DSLR with the amazing sensors and other attractions (such as Canon Digital Rebel and the Nikon D70). I am resisting waiting until the DSLR Minolta Maxxum 7 is finally released since I want to get a better camera sooner rather than later, and at least for now I want my camera to be all in one, and lighter weight. A salesman told me that it was originally due to be released in May, then in September, and the latest news he had from Minolta was that they were hoping to have it out by Christmas.

Best wishes with your cropping quandaries. I have found dpreview incredibly helpful in my digital photography educational journey, and hope you have the same experience. Long live dpreview!

avid amateur