DECLARING WAR PART 2: ASPECT RATIOS

Resuming the discussion from yesterday, clearly the camera manufacturers, the printer manufacturers and the ancillary frame manufacturers and art world never break bread at the same table.  In the sophisticated age of 2010, looking at the absolute chaos and mishmash of formats and Aspect Ratios, the physical photo landscape looks like:

• Software printing preset sizes (Photoshop, Lightroom, et al.)
• Printer Paper sizes
• Frame sizes, 
• Chip sensor sizes 
• Backing material sizes and 
• Mounting Adhesive sizes

were all designed in a Vacuum.   This may all be moot as hanging a photo on the wall becomes a quaint memory.  

MY vote is that 4 x 6, 6 x 9 and 8 x 12 OUGHT to be the 21st century standards of 1.5 to 1 ratio.  There is a 2 inch increase as you go up the scale of the proportions: 4, 6, 8.  These represent 80% of the worlds cameras see below from Wikipedia. The sizes of 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 need to go away forever.


Wikipedia entry:
As of 2008, DSLR sales are dominated by Canon's and Nikon's offerings. For 2007, Canon edged out Nikon with 41% of worldwide sales to the latter's 40%, followed by Sony and Olympus each with approximately 6% market share.^[27] In the Japanese domestic market, Nikon captured 43.3% to Canon's 39.9%, with Pentax a distant third at 6.3%.^[28]

COMMON ASPECT RATIOS

D-SLR CAMERA SENSORS
Full Frame 35mm & APS-C   =  1.5 x 1 = 4 x 6 print =  8 x 12 print = 6 x 9 print   Most Canon & Nikon D-SLRs

APS-H   =  1.81 x 1  (a few high-end, very high speed Canon models)
4/3 rds  =  1.33 x 1   Olympus / Pentax

PHOTOS / FRAMES
4 x 6 Print   3:2 = 1.5 x 1 (See above)
5 x 7 Print  = 1.4 x 1
6 x 9 Print - 1.5 x1 
8 x 10 Print  = 1.25 X 1
8.5 x 11 Print  = 1.29 x 1
8 x 12 Print = 1.5 x 1

VIDEO
4/3 rds = 1.33 x 1 = Standard TV
16 x 9 = HDTV


MEDIUM FORMAT
1:1 = Square


Speaking of format, I highly recommend the book: Photographic Composition by Grill & Scanlon.


For an offbeat look at format, Panoramic breaks all the rules.  Click here for an example.

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