It's not for panoramic. It's a throwback to 35mm proportions that
the camera manufacturers seem to feel that we still think in. It
only uses less pixels and limits your use of the images afterwards.
I recommend using the full pixel dimensions and making creative
cropping decisions afterwards. For panoramic, just crop out the
area you want to use. There are no rules. You make them up as you
go.
Larry Berman
Larry, Todd,
Here's a preview of some relevant info from the upcoming eBook chapter about the CP5000.
The reason 35mm is 2:3 aspect is due to the idea that two 3:4 aspect images butting on their long sides makes a 4:6 aspect result. Which is 2:3. No mystery there, but how did that become the basis?
The earliest movie films were all over the place with aspect ratio, but Edison and Eastman settled into the specs of 35mm movie film with a 3:4 aspect image. The rest (and this) is history.
Movies and HD like to talk about aspect ratio in the format of "X:1" so 2:3 is 1.5:1 for them, which is closer to the "ideal" HD aspect of 1.777:1... Movies are generally 1.85:1 these days.
Mostly, 2:3 is wider and many find this more pleasing than the boxy 3:4. Even the most common prints are 4x6 inches which is a perfect fit for 2:3 aspect.
I was surprised to find that the 5000 packs a surprisingly large extra number of 2:3 images on a card compared to the large-size regular 3:4 frames.
For instance: The camera predicts that a full-size Fine compression image will fill the 32 meg card with 13 images. Actual images of a reasonably normal scene is 20. In 2:3 mode, the camera predicts only 14 images and that certainly is reasonable in comparison. But the reality is that you can stuff 27-29 of these slightly trimmed shots into your memory card!
Only about 11% of the frame is cropped away from normal to 2:3 size. But you get 35-45% more shots. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Odder still: at Normal compression, you get 72% MORE images in 3:2 compared to shooting full-size frames. Basic compression delivers an even higher percentage.
Other cameras with the Full-Size/2:3 option do NOT behave like this. Whatever is going on inside the 5000, it amounts to a very large file-size saving. On the same exact scene, the 2:3 can show as being 1,060,968 bytes while the full-size shot takes up 1,514,637 bytes. That's so big a difference that the forensics department needs to be alerted.
When inspected closely in an attempt to reveal fine differences in compression, noise, compromises or performance differences that could account for the strong file size change, none could be found. Here's a center crop at 100% from each. I've dropped it at low compression here so you can inspect it channel by channel, detail by detail yourself.
The implications of this are pretty heavy. For whatever reason, the 5000 will capture 2:3 images at a terrific quality in about the same space as a 3 megapixel shot on a 995.
Let's hope they don't "fix" this in Firmware V1.7...
-iNova
Can someone tell me exactly what this mode is used for?? My best
guess is panoramic shots since the LCD frame seems to get cropped
that way when it is selected..
If that's not the case, what's the best way to take panoramic
shots with the CP5000?
--
Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
--
http://www.digitalsecrets.net 
