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Why still 4:3 CCDs?

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Nisei

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Modern monitors are widescreen, print standard is 3:2 and still most cameras released have a 4:3 CCD. Why is that? I would expect that since everything's widescreen nowadays, camera manufacturers would be smart enough to start making 3:2 or 16:9 CCDs.
 
Who cares about monitors?
Some 6x6 and 6x4.5 is still there. Should photographers adjust to monitor sizes?
Prints from 4/3 look fine to me, for portraits it works very nice.
 
Nisei said:
Modern monitors are widescreen, print standard is 3:2 and still
most cameras released have a 4:3 CCD.
Click to expand...
4X6" is 2:3, not 5x7" 8x10" etc....
Nisei said:
Why is that? I would expect
that since everything's widescreen nowadays, camera manufacturers
would be smart enough to start making 3:2 or 16:9 CCDs.
Click to expand...
Yeah, can't they see that 16:9 is the most efficient (by far) format for cropping, specially for portraits?? How dumb can they be??

BTW Panasonic's Lumix DMC-LX2 is 16:9. Regards
--
-------------------------------------------------------
My Galleries: http://webs.ono.com/igonzalezbordes/index.html
 
Wow, so now we're arguing about aspect ratios. There's no "correct" aspect ratio to cover all situations, people. This is a matter of personal taste. I think the point that all televisions and computer monitors are evolving to 16x9 (or 16x10 on some) IS a valid point. Sorry portrait people, you're screwed.
 
Being that the most common size for prints is 4x6, a 4:3 chip means you must love wasting time cropping out parts of your images. I for one like seeing my whole photos.
 
Because some of us find 4:3 to be the most useful compromise. Too bad my DSLR uses 3:2.

Prog.
 
4:3 (or very close to it) is still the most commonly used format for paper sizes (eg letter, A4 etc), magazine formats and so forth. Can you image reading a magazine that's in 16:9 format?

Cheers

Ray

--
http://www.australianimage.com.au
 
Dave Luttmann said:
OzRay said:
4:3 (or very close to it) is still the most commonly used format
for paper sizes (eg letter, A4 etc), magazine formats and so forth.
Can you image reading a magazine that's in 16:9 format?
Click to expand...
No it's not. The standard for prints is 4" X 6". That is the most
common print size.
Click to expand...
I'm actually referring to 'all' general paper stocks used in that other world (ie outside the US), but even then 5"x7" seems to be very common and many photo processors are going to 4.5"x6" or 5"x3.75" to avoid cropping of digital images (which seems to be a growing trend).

Cheers

Ray

--
http://www.australianimage.com.au
 
OzRay said:
Dave Luttmann said:
OzRay said:
4:3 (or very close to it) is still the most commonly used format
for paper sizes (eg letter, A4 etc), magazine formats and so forth.
Can you image reading a magazine that's in 16:9 format?
Click to expand...
No it's not. The standard for prints is 4" X 6". That is the most
common print size.
Click to expand...
I'm actually referring to 'all' general paper stocks used in that
other world (ie outside the US), but even then 5"x7" seems to be
very common and many photo processors are going to 4.5"x6" or
5"x3.75" to avoid cropping of digital images (which seems to be a
growing trend).
Click to expand...
Well,

I live in Canada....not the USA.....and 4x6 is it. Noticed the same in Hong Kong and Japan while I was. I guess Europe is the odd one out.
OzRay said:
Cheers

Ray

--
http://www.australianimage.com.au
Click to expand...
 
Nisei said:
Modern monitors are widescreen, print standard is 3:2 and still
most cameras released have a 4:3 CCD. Why is that?
Click to expand...
I would guess that the installed base of 4:3 computer and video equipment have a lot to do with it. Especially when you're talking about P&S cameras, where the opportunity to save a few cents here or there appeals to manufacturers.
Nisei said:
I would expect that since everything's widescreen nowadays, camera
manufacturers would be smart enough to start making 3:2 or 16:9 CCDs.
Click to expand...
Most manufacturers put 3:2 CCDs in their DSLRs.

On at least one point-and-shoot camera, there are settings for 4:3, 3:2, and 16:9 (although you know that at least two of the three must be cropping in-camera).
 
I think you're all (partially) correct on this issue. I would agree that 4x6 is the most common photo print size, BUT letter/A4 is the most common paper size. Make sure you're comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges....
Dave Luttmann said:
OzRay said:
Dave Luttmann said:
OzRay said:
4:3 (or very close to it) is still the most commonly used format
for paper sizes (eg letter, A4 etc), magazine formats and so forth.
Can you image reading a magazine that's in 16:9 format?
Click to expand...
No it's not. The standard for prints is 4" X 6". That is the most
common print size.
Click to expand...
I'm actually referring to 'all' general paper stocks used in that
other world (ie outside the US), but even then 5"x7" seems to be
very common and many photo processors are going to 4.5"x6" or
5"x3.75" to avoid cropping of digital images (which seems to be a
growing trend).
Click to expand...
Well,

I live in Canada....not the USA.....and 4x6 is it. Noticed the
same in Hong Kong and Japan while I was. I guess Europe is the odd
one out.
The Davinator said:
Cheers

Ray

--
http://www.australianimage.com.au
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
OzRay said:
I'm actually referring to 'all' general paper stocks used in that
other world (ie outside the US), but even then 5"x7" seems to be
very common
Click to expand...
One of the European series of paper sizes uses the aspect ratio SQRT(2):1, which is about 1.41:1. The advantage of that ratio is that you can double the size of a piece of paper along the short axis ... and the new, larger piece of paper will have the same aspect ratio (so there's no need to recompose).
 
Without belabouring the point, you're still missing the fundamental issue. It's not about 4"x6" happy snap prints, but standard paper sizes and associated magazine, newspaper and general media formats. Just about all of these are closer to the 4:3 ratio than anything else, apart from a few exceptions.

Some of the reasons for the 4:3 ratio is historical, but it actually makes sense to have a 4:3 ratio in cameras, as it tends to fit better into the general print media. That’s possibly why all medium (excepting 6x6) and large format cameras still use close to the 4:3 ratio.

Cheers

Ray

--
http://www.australianimage.com.au
 
I don't think anyone can say for sure why we "still" have 4x3 CCDs but I can tell you how the 4:3 aspect ratio came to be.

Long before we had digital cameras, we had video. And before it became digital, "ESP" (Electronic Still Photography) was an offshoot from the video camera industry, it made sense that the exact same shape sensors were used for both.

So why was 4:3 picked for TV originally? Because it was mimicking the shape movies were first shot in, almost exclusively, for their first 35 years.

So why was 4:3 picked for movie film originally? Because when the inventor Thomas Edison's assistant, William L.K. Dickson, asked Edison how he wanted to cut down the 70mm celluloid-based film stock that George Eastman had supplied, he responded, "About like this." as he held up his thumb and index finger at a right angle like a sideways letter "L". Conveniently, this also meant slicing the 70mm stock reel exactly in half, which I believe is also the answer to why do SLRs use 35mm film!
 
OzRay said:
Dave Luttmann said:
OzRay said:
4:3 (or very close to it) is still the most commonly used format
for paper sizes (eg letter, A4 etc), magazine formats and so forth.
Can you image reading a magazine that's in 16:9 format?
Click to expand...
No it's not. The standard for prints is 4" X 6". That is the most
common print size.
Click to expand...
I'm actually referring to 'all' general paper stocks used in that
other world (ie outside the US), but even then 5"x7" seems to be
very common and many photo processors are going to 4.5"x6" or
5"x3.75" to avoid cropping of digital images (which seems to be a
growing trend).
Click to expand...
In Brazil, both 4:3 and 3:2 photo print sizes are common. You can usually choose what suits you best.

--
Best regards,

Bruno Lobo.



http://www.pbase.com/brunobl
 
Dave Luttmann said:
No it's not. The standard for prints is 4" X 6". That is the most
common print size.
Click to expand...
Obviously your not old enough. Before 4x6 there was 3.5x5 for 35mm prints and 5x5 for 2 1/4 sq. film and 3.5x3.5 was standard for 126 film. Some of the synergies are two 3.5x5 prints can be printed on on 5x7 sheet. Of course four 4x5s could be printed on an 8x10 sheet so that was and is the small desktop (furniture) standard for portrait.
 
mzillch said:
Wow, so now we're arguing about aspect ratios. There's no "correct"
aspect ratio to cover all situations, people.
Click to expand...
That's what cropping is for, since, like, always.
mzillch said:
This is a matter of
personal taste. I think the point that all televisions and computer
monitors are evolving to 16x9 (or 16x10 on some) IS a valid point.
Click to expand...
Might be valid but it is irrelevant. There have always been prints in all kinds of ratios, many of them involved cropping and I'd say that today people print in a variety of them more often (photo books available everywhere, larger sizes are more mainstream, inkjet printer, they can crop at home etc... ). Designing a sensor to fit a WS format doesn't seem the smartest move to me.
mzillch said:
Sorry portrait people, you're screwed.
Click to expand...
I don't know if I belong to "portrait people", and can only speak for myself, but you're right. And the controversy on panoramic sensor irks me, too.

Regards
--
-------------------------------------------------------
My Galleries: http://webs.ono.com/igonzalezbordes/index.html
 
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