Why are Pictures Square, not Round?

[ScootersDaddy]

Stupid question maybe but it just occurred to me...It seems to me that is an aperture is round then the image should be round. Aren't you wasting a good bit of the edges of the potential image because the senser or film is rectangular? I would guess the answer is probably that photos are rectangular just out of convenience...

[Megapixle]

Photo frames, prints, monitors, sensors, etc. are easier/cheaper to manufacture in a rectangular format.

[JeffreyG]

You have to be a lot more talented as a woodworker to make round frames than rectangular ones.

[DDCSD]

I would guess the answer is probably that photos are rectangular just out of convenience...

Its not convenience, its manufacturing costs. Try making a square lens or a machine that can roll feed round paper. ;)

[Radtech1]

The photographs taken by the old Brownies (1900) were round images printed on a roll of paper. I remember looking at my Grandfather's pictures that his father took with a Brownie and thats how they were.

Rad

[birdfromboat]

wait, wait, I 'll think of it! Whats the name of the russian made fisheye that produces round images on a full frame? It's right there, I just can't think. Anyone?

[Mark_Cohran]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=445634&highlight=Why+aren%27t+pictures+round

[birdfromboat]

And the answer is: Peleng 8mm fisheye (f3.5) produces a 'stunning' round 180 degree view image on a 35mm (full frame) sensor.
The answer to the op's question is: they are round. and triangular. I have seen and liked photographs that were all shapes. If you want a round picture, make one. Then you can ask yourself (or us) why is this photograph round and not rectangular?
the imagination is limited only by......the limits of the imagination. NOT by what the camera mfg people sell us.

[argyle]

Stupid question maybe but it just occurred to me...It seems to me that is an aperture is round then the image should be round. Aren't you wasting a good bit of the edges of the potential image because the senser or film is rectangular? I would guess the answer is probably that photos are rectangular just out of convenience...

It also has to do with size constraints of the camera. A full frame sensor is roughly 36mm x 24mm, which yields an area of 864 square millimeters. A circular sensor with the same area would require a diameter of approximately 34mm. Since that would be about 10mm taller than the rectangular sensor, the manufacturers would need to allow for more room inside the camera, adding to cost and size.

[ScootersDaddy]

Thanks for the answers and the link to the prior discussion.

[PhotosGuy]

Cost in lens design is involved, too. Edge sharpness is harder to get than center sharpness, so they crop off the edges.

[advaitin]

Round, oval, square and rectangle were all used in art long before photography and duplicated since. Individual portraits, especially, lent themselves to the oval frame and I've seen ancient paintings and old photos done that way. Once upon a time I played with an old 120 camera that had enough distortion and aberration from the edges of the frame inward that I was able to do a tight family portrait of a friend, his wife and child that trimmed down perfectly to fit an antique oval frame. They dressed in old clothing and after I toned the photo--with the remaining edge softness--it looked as if it had been done a hundred years before.

Generally we take the course of least resistance. Our imaging devices are rectangular in format and we print to not waste too much paper. Nothing keeps us from experimenting with other formats except time and money, I suspect.

[advaitin]

As an example, here are samples from old photos I scanned from my wife's family collection.

[advaitin]

Of course the images may be printed from a square or rectangular negative and be placed in a card with a cutout to provide the artistic look. Note the photographer's advertising on each card.