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Camera - 16:9 or 4:3?


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Old 01-01-2016, 13:14
TheVoid
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I've noticed that on my mobile, if I choose the standard of 16:9 format for taking pictures, it's only 9MP on my 13MP camera.

To get 13MP, I have to choose 4:3, I find this really odd. Is there any downfall for this? Will images be really cropped/small when put on a laptop or to print?

Thanks
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Old 01-01-2016, 13:25
davies88
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I've noticed that on my mobile, if I choose the standard of 16:9 format for taking pictures, it's only 9MP on my 13MP camera.

To get 13MP, I have to choose 4:3, I find this really odd. Is there any downfall for this? Will images be really cropped/small when put on a laptop or to print?

Thanks
Not really. A lot of people prefer 4:3 for photos. If you're not sure just go for 4:3 then you can easily crop the photo later if you wish, and not lose any noticeable quality.

9MP at 16:9 is nothing bad at all though.
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Old 01-01-2016, 13:25
mupet0000
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Some newer phones like the Galaxy S6 have a wide angle lense to take true 16:9 photos, so when you select 16MP size on the S6, it will be 16:9 because it's a wide angle lense. On other phones, if you want 16:9 photos, they must be cropped down from the original 4:3 size, all your phone is doing is chopping to top and bottom off of your photos to make them 16:9 hence the lower megapixel count.

If you want 16:9 photos, I suggest you use 4:3 mode and then manually crop any photos you wish to be wide.
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Old 01-01-2016, 13:59
Rodney
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Should really offer 3:2 as that is the standard DSLR picture ratio. But remember that 9 Megapixels is still better than 4k video!
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Old 01-01-2016, 20:34
TheVoid
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I still don't understand though... I want the best quality/resolution in case I want to print photos I take.

If they're 4:3, will they not fill the screen on my laptop when I download them, or more importantly, look bad when trying to print them 4x6?
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Old 01-01-2016, 21:04
gavo360
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I still don't understand though... I want the best quality/resolution in case I want to print photos I take.

If they're 4:3, will they not fill the screen on my laptop when I download them, or more importantly, look bad when trying to print them 4x6?
If you plan on printing your pictures then 4:3 is the best option. If you take pictures at 16:9 you will have to manually crop the picture to fit it in a 4x6 print.
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Old 02-01-2016, 20:37
Mustabuster
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I still don't understand though... I want the best quality/resolution in case I want to print photos I take.

If they're 4:3, will they not fill the screen on my laptop when I download them, or more importantly, look bad when trying to print them 4x6?
When you view a picture on a laptop screen it is showing the picture at the resolution of the screen, not at the resolution of the picture UNLESS you've chosen to view it at actual size. In this case you'll likely be viewing just a small section of the picture on the screen.

In a similar manner, when you print the photo you are printing it at best what the printer is capable of which is again different from the actual picture resolution, usually lower. Having a bigger megapixel picture will not automatically result in better prints from your printer. Rather it gives you more leeway to crop the image without losing quality or to have a bigger printout without losing quality.
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Old 02-01-2016, 20:53
mupet0000
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I still don't understand though... I want the best quality/resolution in case I want to print photos I take.

If they're 4:3, will they not fill the screen on my laptop when I download them, or more importantly, look bad when trying to print them 4x6?
Obviously 13MP is better than 9MP in terms of resolution. So in your case, 4:3 would be what you want to take pictures in, 9MP is just chopping the top and bottom your 4:3 resolution photos in order to make the 16:9.

Take pictures in 4:3 and then chop them down later if needed. If the pictures are square on your laptop, zoom in, or chop them down to 16:9 yourself.

At the end of the day, 4:3 will give you more picture to work with, 16:9 will give you less.
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Old 02-01-2016, 22:03
PrinceGaz
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As has been said, always take pictures in the highest native resolution, as anything else (16:9 in this case) will mean it takes the same photo, but chops off part of it before saving it. Even if you're only using the photo for social media, it is generally better to decide which part of it you want yourself, or just post it all, rather than losing part of the image area when you take it.

It is easy to crop a photo to remove stuff you might not want, but you'll never be able to get back what was cropped after it has been saved in that way originally.
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Old 02-01-2016, 22:19
Ben_Fisher
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Just a sidenote to a similar thing.

Don't zoom on smartphones (maybe with video), just crop it at a later date, that's what your phones doing anyway.
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