How is the 4:3 aspect ratio working out for you?

6BQ5 · 11-14-2014, 11:44 AM

Sometimes I find it difficult to work with the 4:3 ratio of the Q sensor - especially after switching from my K-30 which is closer to the 3:2 ratio. My difficulty is knowing that I will be cropping whatever the Q puts out. A 2:3 ratio gives me 4"x6" and 8"x12" prints. Cropping to 4"x5" or 8"x10" from my K-30 feels a lot easier than starting with the 4:3 ratio and cropping to anything. I feel like I'm giving up a lot of pixels with the Q and less with my K-30.

Any thoughts?

aleonx3 · 11-14-2014, 11:58 AM

Originally posted by 6BQ5

Sometimes I find it difficult to work with the 4:3 ratio of the Q sensor - especially after switching from my K-30 which is closer to the 3:2 ratio. My difficulty is knowing that I will be cropping whatever the Q puts out. A 2:3 ratio gives me 4"x6" and 8"x12" prints. Cropping to 4"x5" or 8"x10" from my K-30 feels a lot easier than starting with the 4:3 ratio and cropping to anything. I feel like I'm giving up a lot of pixels with the Q and less with my K-30.

Any thoughts?

Boris, I feel the same way as I also have the Q. I set my Q to 2:3 ratio as well (lose some pixels). As you said, it is easier to crop with 2:3 ratio to begin with than 3:4 ratio.

**jrpower10** · 11-14-2014, 01:23 PM

I actually use 3x4 quite a bit (guess it's actually 9x12 when I print), but I really like that aspect ratio. You can also crop to 4x5 and lose fewer pixels than cropping a 2x3 image to 4x5 (cropping 2x3 down to 4x5 means cropping 1/6th of you pixels, vs 4x3 to 4x5 is cropping 1/9th of your pixels). My prints are almost always aspect ratios of 4x5 or 3x4 so 3x4 works better for me (why I also like the 645z aspect ratio). If you're printing 2x3 mainly, then 2x3 is obviously better.

bladawiec · 11-14-2014, 03:35 PM - **2 Likes**

Originally posted by 6BQ5

Sometimes I find it difficult to work with the 4:3 ratio of the Q sensor - especially after switching from my K-30 which is closer to the 3:2 ratio. My difficulty is knowing that I will be cropping whatever the Q puts out. A 2:3 ratio gives me 4"x6" and 8"x12" prints. Cropping to 4"x5" or 8"x10" from my K-30 feels a lot easier than starting with the 4:3 ratio and cropping to anything. I feel like I'm giving up a lot of pixels with the Q and less with my K-30.

Any thoughts?

BTW. Whatever ratio you use while taking photos in Q/Q7 (4:3, 3:2, 1:1 or 16:9), the RAW file still contains full uncropped 4:3 RAW image data from the camera. For example if you take the 3:2 photo, in applications like LR you can move (up/down) the 3:2 frame over full 3x4 RAW image as well you can restore the full 4:3 image.
For example, I am taking photos in 3:2 mode (this is ratio of most of my prints, so I can see on camera LCD the image like it would be on the print). But if I want to rearrange the image (for example I see that horizon is too high or too low) I still have full RAW data to move up/down the 3:2 crop without waste the number of pixels in comparison to "original" 3:2 image.
I hope that helped a little.

6BQ5 · 11-14-2014, 09:19 PM

bladawiec,

Thanks for the tip! You are totally right. I set my Q to a 3:2 ratio through the Info menu screen. When I opened up the DNG file in Aperture I got the full 4:3 image. This is interesting to me. Now I can frame my shot as if it were a 3:2, shoot it at the full 4:3, and fine tune the cropping back down to 3:2.

drougge · 11-15-2014, 12:21 PM

It's working out well for me. I just checked the average aspect ratio of the images I have posted to flickr, and it's 1.37. That's close to 4:3. (About half are shot with the Q, about half with 3:2 cameras.)

**crewl1** · 11-19-2014, 10:58 PM

I just work with whatever the camera produces. I like the greater pixels of the native ratio. For street I sometimes crop to square format.
Switching to movie forces 16x9.

6BQ5 · 11-19-2014, 11:11 PM

Originally posted by drougge

It's working out well for me. I just checked the average aspect ratio of the images I have posted to flickr, and it's 1.37. That's close to 4:3. (About half are shot with the Q, about half with 3:2 cameras.)

How did you get Flickr to give you that statistic? That's an awesome feature!

Sandy Hancock · 11-19-2014, 11:19 PM

I crop quite a lot of my DSLR images to 4:3, especially the portraits, so I'm fine with it being the native format for the Q.

drougge · 11-20-2014, 03:00 AM

Originally posted by 6BQ5

How did you get Flickr to give you that statistic? That's an awesome feature!

It would be, but I don't think flickr provides it. But I obsessively tag my images, so I could just check for everything tagged "flickr". (And what software provides that information then? Well, my own. I wouldn't call it ready for normal people, but anyone is free to try, I have the same username on github.)

On the other hand, it wouldn't be hard to make something to give you this directly from flickr I think. A bit slow though, since I guess you'd have to fetch metadata for every image posted separately. Maybe someone has made this already?

11-14-2014, 11:44 AM	#1
6BQ5 Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Nevada, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,348	How is the 4:3 aspect ratio working out for you? Sometimes I find it difficult to work with the 4:3 ratio of the Q sensor - especially after switching from my K-30 which is closer to the 3:2 ratio. My difficulty is knowing that I will be cropping whatever the Q puts out. A 2:3 ratio gives me 4"x6" and 8"x12" prints. Cropping to 4"x5" or 8"x10" from my K-30 feels a lot easier than starting with the 4:3 ratio and cropping to anything. I feel like I'm giving up a lot of pixels with the Q and less with my K-30. Any thoughts?

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11-14-2014, 11:58 AM	#2
aleonx3 Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Brampton, Ontario Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,996	Originally posted by 6BQ5 Sometimes I find it difficult to work with the 4:3 ratio of the Q sensor - especially after switching from my K-30 which is closer to the 3:2 ratio. My difficulty is knowing that I will be cropping whatever the Q puts out. A 2:3 ratio gives me 4"x6" and 8"x12" prints. Cropping to 4"x5" or 8"x10" from my K-30 feels a lot easier than starting with the 4:3 ratio and cropping to anything. I feel like I'm giving up a lot of pixels with the Q and less with my K-30. Any thoughts? Boris, I feel the same way as I also have the Q. I set my Q to 2:3 ratio as well (lose some pixels). As you said, it is easier to crop with 2:3 ratio to begin with than 3:4 ratio.

11-14-2014, 01:23 PM	#3
jrpower10 Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Richland, Washington, USA Posts: 935	I actually use 3x4 quite a bit (guess it's actually 9x12 when I print), but I really like that aspect ratio. You can also crop to 4x5 and lose fewer pixels than cropping a 2x3 image to 4x5 (cropping 2x3 down to 4x5 means cropping 1/6th of you pixels, vs 4x3 to 4x5 is cropping 1/9th of your pixels). My prints are almost always aspect ratios of 4x5 or 3x4 so 3x4 works better for me (why I also like the 645z aspect ratio). If you're printing 2x3 mainly, then 2x3 is obviously better.

11-14-2014, 03:35 PM - 2 Likes	#4
bladawiec Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Poland Posts: 45	Originally posted by 6BQ5 Sometimes I find it difficult to work with the 4:3 ratio of the Q sensor - especially after switching from my K-30 which is closer to the 3:2 ratio. My difficulty is knowing that I will be cropping whatever the Q puts out. A 2:3 ratio gives me 4"x6" and 8"x12" prints. Cropping to 4"x5" or 8"x10" from my K-30 feels a lot easier than starting with the 4:3 ratio and cropping to anything. I feel like I'm giving up a lot of pixels with the Q and less with my K-30. Any thoughts? BTW. Whatever ratio you use while taking photos in Q/Q7 (4:3, 3:2, 1:1 or 16:9), the RAW file still contains full uncropped 4:3 RAW image data from the camera. For example if you take the 3:2 photo, in applications like LR you can move (up/down) the 3:2 frame over full 3x4 RAW image as well you can restore the full 4:3 image. For example, I am taking photos in 3:2 mode (this is ratio of most of my prints, so I can see on camera LCD the image like it would be on the print). But if I want to rearrange the image (for example I see that horizon is too high or too low) I still have full RAW data to move up/down the 3:2 crop without waste the number of pixels in comparison to "original" 3:2 image. I hope that helped a little.

11-14-2014, 09:19 PM	#5
6BQ5 Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Nevada, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,348 Original Poster	bladawiec, Thanks for the tip! You are totally right. I set my Q to a 3:2 ratio through the Info menu screen. When I opened up the DNG file in Aperture I got the full 4:3 image. This is interesting to me. Now I can frame my shot as if it were a 3:2, shoot it at the full 4:3, and fine tune the cropping back down to 3:2.

11-15-2014, 12:21 PM	#6
drougge Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Malmö Photos: Gallery Posts: 787	It's working out well for me. I just checked the average aspect ratio of the images I have posted to flickr, and it's 1.37. That's close to 4:3. (About half are shot with the Q, about half with 3:2 cameras.)

11-19-2014, 10:58 PM	#7
crewl1 Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Los Angeles, CA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 9,807	I just work with whatever the camera produces. I like the greater pixels of the native ratio. For street I sometimes crop to square format. Switching to movie forces 16x9.

11-19-2014, 11:11 PM	#8
6BQ5 Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Nevada, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,348 Original Poster	Originally posted by drougge It's working out well for me. I just checked the average aspect ratio of the images I have posted to flickr, and it's 1.37. That's close to 4:3. (About half are shot with the Q, about half with 3:2 cameras.) How did you get Flickr to give you that statistic? That's an awesome feature!

11-19-2014, 11:19 PM	#9
Sandy Hancock Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Adelaide Hills, South Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,272	I crop quite a lot of my DSLR images to 4:3, especially the portraits, so I'm fine with it being the native format for the Q.

11-20-2014, 03:00 AM	#10
drougge Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Malmö Photos: Gallery Posts: 787	Originally posted by 6BQ5 How did you get Flickr to give you that statistic? That's an awesome feature! It would be, but I don't think flickr provides it. But I obsessively tag my images, so I could just check for everything tagged "flickr". (And what software provides that information then? Well, my own. I wouldn't call it ready for normal people, but anyone is free to try, I have the same username on github.) On the other hand, it wouldn't be hard to make something to give you this directly from flickr I think. A bit slow though, since I guess you'd have to fetch metadata for every image posted separately. Maybe someone has made this already?