What is the aspect ratio you most use?

[jeffnles1]

I use 5:4 a lot since I print many of my images in 8X10 and 16X20. I guess next would be 11:14 (for 11X14 prints) and 1:1 for square prints. Other than that, if I'm just posting on the internet, I use whatever came from the camera.

 

[SoCalWill]

I also read that aspect ratio in this day and age is not important and people 'crop to image' meaning anything goes.

Correct, limitations are bad.

I enjoy finding new uses for new crop ratios; since I got an iPhone XS Max, I've been having fun with 19.5 x 9..







--
Digital Camera and Adobe Photoshop user since 1999.
Adobe Lightroom is my adult coloring book.

 

[Ron Poelman]

[No message]

 

[Belgarchi]

I've been playing about with ratios and spent quite a lot of time shooting in 16:9 before I switched to 3:2. I flipped back to 16:9 and now images just look 'weird' to me even though it is the aspect ratio I view most often on my monitor. I also read that aspect ratio in this day and age is not important and people 'crop to image' meaning anything goes. I'm just wondering what others use, do and think about the subject?
Thanks.

Whatever camera I'm shooting, I only shoot in the native AR and crop later.

It makes a lot of sense. It is, though, sometimes difficult to imagine what the final photo will be when looking in the viewfinder.

It gives me an idea: cameras should allow people to see different formats in the viewfinder and still take the photo in the native format, with some 'flag' in the EXIF file.

 

[KCook]

I crop almost all of my shots. Link for another thread on aspect ratio -

The Advantages of Square Format Sensors

Kelly Cook

 

[bosjohn21]

A quart of tomato juice and a half cup of unsweetened jello with a pinch of salt garlic and lemon juice, oh wait you said aspect not aspic

 

[Schrodingers_cat]

[No message]

 

[Richard B99]

I always use the camera’s full standard sensor which is 3:2. In post I will crop to taste.

For landscape I often find the standard 3:2 works very well and it’s a close match to the proportions of A3+ paper (the largest I can print at home). However, some things work better at 16:9. Occasionally, I’ll do a random custom crop to suit and sometimes 1:1 works.

Portrait, I often find 5:4 is better than the 3:2 so that’s my most used crop there.

 

[Chris Wolfgram]

• yardcoyote wrote:

I do like Instagram, but I have loved squares since long before there was even an internet.

I looked at IG a few times before I knew anything about it. Each time I found an image that showed some promise in the "thumbnail", I'd instinctively try to zoom it... And then I'd be like, wait, is that really all there is ?

 

[DenWil]

6x7.

Convenient when shooting 6x7 originals but I still average 6x7 finished files/enlargements when the originals are 645 or 35mmFF.



From a few of the responses folks seem to be responding by their sensor size so if the OP was asking for sensor size versus presentation size -i.e. "the aspect ratio you most use"...my bad. I currently shoot 120 /67 film and a 2x3 sensor in a 35mmDSLR.

--
dw

 

[9VIII]

It would be 1:1 if anyone would make a camera with that sensor format.
With all these new Full Frame systems coming out I’m hopeful we can at least get some 4:3 goodness.

 

[EOS GUY]

I use 3:2 the native ratio of my camera. In post I crop to other ratios if needed and will sometimes shoot a bit wider or to suit the eventual crop I will use if I know in advance I will do this.

 

[thinkinginimages]

Great question: I use the native 4:3 on my MFT Lumix cameras.

It's a convenient format for me. It's close to square so if I'm working fast I don't rotate the camera to vertical. If I'm using on camera flash, it keeps the flash where I want it.

Since I go way back to film, I worked a lot in 6X7cm, 4X5 and 8X10. The "short rectangle" is a familiar aspect ratio to me. 35mm 3:2 was the "odd format" for me, even though I used it quite a lot. (I'm surprised it carried over to digital, actually.)

Video is (now) 16:9. It's a different camera technique, so my thinking switches over when I'm capturing video. That's a carryover from using dedicated video cameras.

It's all good.

 

[lost alaskan]

ah, 3.2. Don't kill me.

 

[thinkinginimages]

No worries from me. When I had a DSLR I used 3:2. Now I use MFT and it defaults to 4:3.

Much as I like to get it right in the camera, I'm flexible. Sometimes I get back to the computer and "rethink" the image.