this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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169
YSK: Your phone camera's aspect ratio is 4:3; setting it to anything else crops your photos (self.youshouldknow)
submitted 1 year ago by Zak to c/youshouldknow
32 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Why YSK: I've been seeing an increasing number of phone photos shared online in 9:16, 9:21 or similarly tall aspect ratios, often with parts of the subject cut off. I've asked a few people why they cropped their images that way, and none of them knew they were cropped.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is true, and good to know but with caveats. If you take the picture in 16:9 mode then yes you're only using part of the sensor (or likely the whole sensor but only part of the image is being processed and stored), but you would also be using your phone's display to properly frame and take the picture how you want to. A good picture is not just the technical aspect of using the sensor.

The outcome when someone crops a 4:3 image after taking it to make it 16:9 etc depends on how the orignal image was framed and how good the skills are of the person cropping it. You may get more information if you take the picture in 4:3 mode but then you may find it much harder to convert it to a format you like (for example, a format that would fill the display when viewed on a phone, a TV or a computer display) due to how you framed the original photo. I'd argue it's better to take the photo in the format you want to consume it in if you're using a phone. If you have an actual dedicated camera, then get a camera that works best in the format you want to use.

[–] Zak 3 points 1 year ago

Sure, pre-cropping is a valid technique, best done intentionally.

get a camera that works best in the format you want to use

Dedicated cameras intended for photography (rather than videography) almost exclusively come in either 4:3 or 3:2. Video cameras occasionally use 16:9, or even weirder ratios.

[–] itadakimasu 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Buttttt I like 16:9 better

[–] Zak 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nobody is telling you what to like, just how your phone camera functions.

Now if we're doing photo critique, I might tell you a 9:16 portriat orientation photo of your cat with half its ear cropped out on the side but a whole bunch of the floor included in the foreground looks poorly composed, but cropping to 16:9 in some other context might exclude some uninteresting clutter and improve the photo.

[–] itadakimasu 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I get it and I've always known. I just prefer 16:9 photos because... Well, my screen and monitors, and TV are 16:9 so why not take photos that (by default) fill the screens?

Nothing more annoying than showing an album to friends over Chromecast on your TV and the photos don't fill the screen.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Nothing more annoying than showing an album to friends over Chromecast on your TV and the photos don't fill the screen.

But you can still just crop it after taking the picture? 4:3 would just give you more freedom of where the cut is made for photos that might not be lined up perfectly when taken in 16:9.

[–] Zak 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If that's your preference, then that's what you should do.

I'm seeing an increasing diversity in screen aspect ratios lately though, so it might be worth considering whether that's the aspect ratio you want to use for a photo you'll care about longer than your current display devices. If you shoot it uncropped, you can always create cropped copies later.

WRT diversity, my current laptop is 16:9. My next one will probably be 3:2. My main external display is 16:10, and the secondary is 9:16. My phone is 19.5:9. Media rarely fills the screen for me.

[–] borebore 7 points 1 year ago

One issue with shooting uncropped is that the composition will most likely take advantage of the aspect ratio you are using and not necessarily crop well. Composing the shot in the aspect ratio that you intend to display it is actually a better technique unless you are very skilled and able to imagine how you're going to crop it in the future.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

My phone is a 6:5 aspect ratio, so I prefer taking 4:3 photos and video with it for example.

[–] borebore 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I did some testing on my phone, Samsung S22, and it looks like 1:1 uses the most of the sensor. Any other aspect ratio was zooming in. This is particularly upsetting to me since I was using the "full" setting which cropped the most but I thought I was using the most of the sensor.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Interesting. I have a Samsung A3 and both 1:1 and 'Full' crop, 3:4 is the one that doesn't. Luckily I think 3:4 is the default on the camera because I don't remember changing it. The safest thing is probably to just look up your phones specs tbh.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Reporting from a Z Fold 4 for more testing, using the 4:3 ratio seems to be the one that uses the entire sensor on this phone. 1:1 crops from the sides and 16:9 crops from the top and bottom.

[–] art 3 points 1 year ago

Just tested on the 22 ultra and the 1:1 crops the bottom.

[–] barnsbauer 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That depends on the phone. I remember some old Samsung flagships using a native 16:9 sensor. That was over at least half a decade ago though. Another device with such a setup I remember would be the Nokia 8 Sirocco.

And, the now extinct Windows phones had atypical arrangement where neither aspect ratios would result in the full usage of the sensor, though 4:3 got closer. The Sony Xperia 1 V has multi-aspect ratios too, afaik, where you'd gain some horizontal FOV at the expense of the same vertically when switching from 4.3:3 to 16:9 or longer.

For the vast majority of the phones and their users out there though, I agree with you. I've seen way too many people go with 18-21:9 pictures, probably thinking they're capturing more of the scene as they see that aspect ratio fill up their screen.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Also, the digital zoom just crops as well, so take the shot and then crop it, rather than try to aim a tight zoom.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

When “zooming” in the view finder the phone can adjust exposure and processing to what’s just in the frame, so it’s not quite the same as cropping in after the shot. So you might end up with a better shot with zooming first. Resolution wise it’s the same though.

[–] Zak 8 points 1 year ago

Also true, though phones with multiple cameras often combine the UI for that cropping with switching cameras rather than having an explicit control to select a camera.

[–] CodyCannoli 6 points 1 year ago

Eh, this one's not as accurate anymore, most phones have digital enhancement that improves the photo when you zoom in. This digital enhancement is not done if your subject is really small in the photo. For stuff thats actually far away zooming is better, if you're just framing a shot then yeah crop it later.

[–] art 5 points 1 year ago

Some of the newer cameras will use multiple exposures to get more data when zoomed in. Obviously this is not as good as having a physical zoom but it can be surprisingly good compared to just cropping. Computational photography is rad.

[–] nrzzrn 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

@[email protected] do you have a source for this?

[–] Zak 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm finding it surprisingly hard to come up with a simple, concise citation for it. Looking up reviews of individual phones will let you find the exact dimensions of images they capture in various modes, but an exhaustive search would be tedious.

Looking at the product table for Samsung image sensors lists their resolutions, some of which, such as 4000x3000 are obviously 4:3 without picking up the calculator.

[–] nrzzrn 3 points 1 year ago

Great ! Thanks a lot. :-)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can check it yourself, just set ratio to 3:4, aim camera so some object will be in corner, and then change to 9:16/full, or whatever that's bigger. You will see that the object won't be visible. And sorry if I made a language mistake.

[–] nrzzrn 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks ! I can’t check now, but I’ll try to remember. ;-)

(And your English seems fine to me. :-) )

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Nice, my google pixel's default uses the most of the sensor.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm lucky that my phone (Realme x3) defaults to the 16:9 but has a 64mp option that switches to 4:3 with one tap. Best of both worlds.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Why is it better than just using 4:3 at all times?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@Zak In my Moto g73, it seems to be between 1:1 and 4:3. 1:1 crops the top, and 4:3 crops the sides.

[–] Zak 2 points 1 year ago

This specs site gives the main camera resolution as 8160x6120 (4:3). Assuming that's right, something weird is going to to get that result.

[–] Postcard64 2 points 1 year ago

This. I always make sure to check the maximum aspect ratio of cameras I use. No point in wasting pixels and field of view.

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