Canon 20d - photo sizes

[themonko]

Alright, I have no clue if i am missing something or what, but I have taken several pictures with my 20D now and have printed up a few without cropping and it seems that the default size of the picture is 10x15.

Does this sound right?

Anyone know how to manipulate this? It really sucks when you actually frame a picture correctly and don't want to crop anything out and you are stuck printing in a dimension of 10x15 rather then 11x14 or 8x10 or any normal size.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Meysha]

What a pain! I have absolutely no idea. But you might get more responses if you ask it up in General Q&A. Or you could just buy a different sized frame.

Mod?!! ... Mod???? We need a Mod check, aisle 4. Thank you.

 

[BadRotation]

Yep, I find this to be very annoying as well, and it has ruined quite a few of my shots that I framed perfectly, and then stuff gets left out when the print machine at the local photo place crops it.

 

[Digital Matt]

I got news for you. 8x10, 5x7, 11x14, 16x20, are not normal sizes, at least in respect to negative dimensions. The dimensions of your "negative" are the same ratio as 35mm film, which is 4x6, 8x12, 10x15, 16x24, 20x30, etc......

If you want to frame your photos in "standard frame sizes", take 2 steps back, and allow yourself room to crop. You'll need to crop them in software before you print them.

If you don't want to do this, frame as you want in camera, and just order custom frames.

www.americanframe.com has reasonable prices on custom frames that you assemble. They also cut custom mats.

 

[Sharkbait]

Simple rule of thumb: Shoot wide, crop down. :thumbsup:

 

[Alison]

I agree with John and Matt, I learned the hard way to leave some extra space to crop later.

 

[themonko]

Well, you learn something new every day. The world has me thinking that 8x10, 5x7, 11x14, 16x20 are normal when apparently, according to Matt, the world is wrong.

So why is it that these not so normal sizes have become the normal?

I guess I need to bite the bullet and start spending the big bucks on the framming and matting now that I have spent the big bucks on the camera as I do not believe i should have to intentionally miss frame a shot and then lose out on pixels.

Are you also telling me that while I was shooting 35mm they were cropping without asking what to crop? If so...all the more reason to go digital or build yourself a darkroom!

 

[Digital Matt]

If you get 4x6's printed of your stuff, there is no crop. If you order an 8x10, yes, someone is cropping it for you.

I don't know why frame sizes have evolved the way they have. To me, an 8x10 is ugly. Very boxy, square. I prefer 8x12 much more. You don't have to spend a fortune on custom framing. I routinely frame 8x12s with a custom cut 3" around mat, and basic thin black metal frame. I think the price for the mat, frame, and plexiglass through AmericanFrame is around $20-25. Not so bad. After printing, and shipping, you frame a picture for $30.

If you are shooting portraits, most people are going to want 8x10s, 5x7s, etc... I always shoot loose for that stuff, but my own personal stuff, I just custom frame.

 

[themonko]

Thanks Matt. I'm actually not doing portriat stuff...just personal stuff that i may some day, who knows, start selling. Still working on technique and finding my personal style.

As for framing, I personally like the black wood frames which tend to be more expensive. With the few 10x15 i've printed, i got the 16x20 frame with a custom matting which at the local store cost me about 20 bucks or so...all in all ending at around $40. I will check out americanframe.com and see what they have to offer next time I am shopping, though frames and matting are one of the things I don't like to buy online...

Thanks again!

 

[Jeff Canes]

My guess on the standard frame size is because they pre-date the use of 35mm and it’s 3:2 formatting. Personally I like to go smaller with 6.6x10 prints

 

[rkajbaf]

:mrgreen: And more SPAM. We need a spam emoticon

 

[Marctwo]

Make sure you get every thing you want vertically and allow plenty of room to crop horizontally.

When you get 4x6s printed from neg's they will be cropped by varying degrees - but to the same aspect ratio.

 

[JeLeAk]

instead of croping why not resize?