4x5's vs. 4x6's

[BasherXt]

Becoming new into the photography world, I have seen many many people offering 4x5's as print size in general and in packages, and not so much as 4x6's.

Was hoping someone could help explain why 4x5's instead of 4x6's especially since the cameras are formatted to a 4x6 dimension anyway.

???

[tkoutdoor]

Becoming new into the photography world, I have seen many many people offering 4x5's as print size in general and in packages, and not so much as 4x6's.

Was hoping someone could help explain why 4x5's instead of 4x6's especially since the cameras are formatted to a 4x6 dimension anyway.

???Here's what I would say, but just chalk this up as one mans opinion.

Typically I'm shooting with center AF only and either I grab focus and recompose for non-action shots or I keep center focus with AF tracking for action stuff. For landscapes I could often use either a 4x6 or 5x7 format, but with action I'm always going to end up cropping to something other than 4x6 as I don't want the subject right in the center. I plan to crop and the 4x6 format just gives me some real estate to work with. 8x10 is a common result (for me) of an action shot that's been recomposed via cropping. Usually even with center AF and recompose I still want to crop a little, but occasionally not. Also keep in mind that 4x5 is half of the 8x10 crop so if someone was offering a photo that they'd cropped at 8x10 and 16x20 the 4x5 would also work without having to recrop another version of the photo just to offer a 4x6. I hadn't tried that before, but I might try that myself now for those that look best with an 8x10 ratio.

[amfoto1]

Hi,

I offer both sizes of prints to my customers.

4x6 is full frame from your typical DSLR based upon 35mm film SLR format/ratio (it's a 2:3 ratio).

4x5 is a smaller version of the 8x10/16x20 crop that's so popular for many types of photography: portraits, etc. It's sort of a traditional format and still you will find the most frames and mats in this size in the U.S. (4:5 ratio). Among DSLRs, only Olympus and other FourThirds cameras produce images using this ratio.

There are "masks" and "crop mark" viewfinder focus screens with the 4:5 format indicated on them available for some cameras... among Canon that includes 1D-series and 5D.

[tim]

4x5 is mostly for compact cameras AFAIK. Like Alan says it's an older size too. I don't sell many 8x10s or images in that ratio, though for wedding group shots I leave space at the sides so I can if people want them.