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4:3 aspect ratio; has it changed your photography?

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Aaron801 said:
I have a GH2 as well and I know about the multi-aspect sensor. Still, I never use it set to anything but the standard 4:3. I could be wrong but it seemed to me when I tried using it with other aspect ratios that these weren't previewed in the finder...
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Yes you are wrong here. Both LCD and EVF adapt to the aspect ratio. Of course, the full display is only utilized by using the native resolution (which I think is not 4:3 on either LCD or EVF on GH2).
 
Thank you all for your replies. It seems that many people do not have a problem with 4:3. My point was not to say that 4:3 is bad, but I think it would be good to have some options. Just like having APS-C or FF cameras with 4:3 sensors would be nice. Perhaps it would be too costly? I care for this matter, because the sensor size of µ4/3 is already smallish, and cropping makes it efficiently even smaller. Maybe I care too much for technology (although my cameras are not the newest models)?

Because many people tend to crop images, the megapixels do not seem to be very important. Of course, the more you have, the more you can crop, but this doesn't seem to be a limiting factor for many using µ4/3.
 
SpinOne said:
pannumon said:
I find it a major weakness for µ4/3 that the only aspect ratio you can get is 4:3 (except GH1, GH2).
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Please try again. Almost every Micro 4/3 offers 4:3, 3:2, 1:1 and 16:9 framing; some even offer 4:3 vertical.

Fuji is now offering 3:2, 16:9, 1:1. Sony finally put out a camera with those ratios too (RX1R II).
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I meant native aspect ratios. Of course you can get any aspect ratio by post processing.
SpinOne said:
SpinOne said:
I still use my GH2 and absolutely love the multi-aspect-ratio sensor.
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Ehh. Good for videographers, not too important unless you use 16:9 most of the time.
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I think it's very nice, especially when shooting wide-angle. Cropping 4:3 12mm image to 3:2 is close to shooting 14mm with native 3:2. With zoom lenses, it really does not make a difference, but with primes, it gives a lot of versatility. Native 16:9 shows much more information vertically than 4:3. Focal length is always determined by the diagonal of the image, but in practice multi-aspect ratio sensor makes your 30mm, 20mm and 14mm lenses something like 28-30mm, 18mm-20mm and 13mm-14mm. The gaps between the focal lengths become much smaller.
SpinOne said:
SpinOne said:
The Panasonic 20mm lens may seem a bit odd in terms of focal length (in 35mm-equivalence it's 40mm), but since 4:3 is horizontally narrower than 3:2, it's horizontally pretty close to the classical 35mm (17.5 in µ4/3) focal lenght. This could be one reason why the lens is so popular.
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I think Panasonic designed it that way, but that's not why it was popular. It's because it was one of the first fast, small, reasonably sharp lenses for M4/3. There was no real competition when it came out. Today, there's numerous excellent 25mm lenses; the 17mm f/1.8 Oly lens is excellent, too.
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Well written. I totally agree, except that the Panasonic lenses were all sharp from the beginning (except maybe 45-200mm; but it was a bargain).
 
tkbslc said:
I think that math is off. If it is horizontally narrower, then it could not be similar to a wider AOV on a Wider aspect ratio. It could be similar vertically to 35mm equivalent on 3:2, though, since 4:3 is a taller aspect ratio. (I understand that was his point, not yours, but you continued it)
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You are correct. I am happy that you understood! :)
 
Glen Barrington wrote:
Glen Barrington said:
I agree, I find myself cropping to a 1:1 Aspect ratio and I think 4/3s lends itself to efficient use of the sensor for 1:1. Also both 1:1 and 4:3 are what I call, very intimate formats.

Without heavy cropping, big sweeping landscapes don't really lend themselves to either format. BUT, when you want to focus on very specific things. When you want to get "up close, and personal" I think both are quite useful in that way. Fortunately, that is the way I shoot most of the time.

When I want to do a landscape, I've been doing panoramas with the 4:3 AR. Between the two stitching programs, ICE and Hugin, I've been able to get some great "panos" with a wide sweep.
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It seems to me you've summed up the essential nature and usefulness of these various formats pretty well. Thanks for your insights.
---------------
Tom B
 
pannumon said:
I find it a major weakness for µ4/3 that the only aspect ratio you can get is 4:3 (except GH1, GH2). I absolutely love 4:3 in portrait orientation (3:4). How do you feel about the 4:3 aspect ratio? Have you converted from 3:2 to 4:3? Do you shoot differently? Do you often change the aspect ratio by cropping? Would you be willing to pay let's say 200$/€/£ more, if you could optionally get the camera with another aspect ratio (it would probably be 3:2, then).

I still use my GH2 and absolutely love the multi-aspect-ratio sensor. The Panasonic 20mm lens may seem a bit odd in terms of focal length (in 35mm-equivalence it's 40mm), but since 4:3 is horizontally narrower than 3:2, it's horizontally pretty close to the classical 35mm (17.5 in µ4/3) focal lenght. This could be one reason why the lens is so popular.
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Once upon a time, when the camera didn't shoot the format we wanted, we learned how to frame a picture for the aspect we wanted.

Is this a lost art now?
 
Freddy Quimby said:
pannumon said:
I find it a major weakness for µ4/3 that the only aspect ratio you can get is 4:3 (except GH1, GH2). I absolutely love 4:3 in portrait orientation (3:4). How do you feel about the 4:3 aspect ratio? Have you converted from 3:2 to 4:3? Do you shoot differently? Do you often change the aspect ratio by cropping? Would you be willing to pay let's say 200$/€/£ more, if you could optionally get the camera with another aspect ratio (it would probably be 3:2, then).

I still use my GH2 and absolutely love the multi-aspect-ratio sensor. The Panasonic 20mm lens may seem a bit odd in terms of focal length (in 35mm-equivalence it's 40mm), but since 4:3 is horizontally narrower than 3:2, it's horizontally pretty close to the classical 35mm (17.5 in µ4/3) focal lenght. This could be one reason why the lens is so popular.
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Once upon a time, when the camera didn't shoot the format we wanted, we learned how to frame a picture for the aspect we wanted.

Is this a lost art now?
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"Once upon a time" begins most fairy tales, but the true art is one that never was. We're returning to those days, with high MP users leading the charge.
 
Put 2 images in landscape vertically =4:6=2:3

Put 2 images in portait horizontally =6:4=3:2

Blow up 5:4 X 3=15:12

Blow up 4:3 X 4=16: 12
 
pannumon said:
I find it a major weakness for µ4/3 that the only aspect ratio you can get is 4:3 (except GH1, GH2). I absolutely love 4:3 in portrait orientation (3:4). How do you feel about the 4:3 aspect ratio? Have you converted from 3:2 to 4:3? Do you shoot differently? Do you often change the aspect ratio by cropping? Would you be willing to pay let's say 200$/€/£ more, if you could optionally get the camera with another aspect ratio (it would probably be 3:2, then).

I still use my GH2 and absolutely love the multi-aspect-ratio sensor. The Panasonic 20mm lens may seem a bit odd in terms of focal length (in 35mm-equivalence it's 40mm), but since 4:3 is horizontally narrower than 3:2, it's horizontally pretty close to the classical 35mm (17.5 in µ4/3) focal lenght. This could be one reason why the lens is so popular.
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...but for practical reasons, virtually all my pictures are made at 3:2 format.

Regards,
 
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