Does the 40D camera take "too big" of photos!?

So, I get some of my needed family/friend/vacation pics printed at my local Walgreens and they ALL come out cropped... The photo quality I think is more than acceptable, but the cropping is not.. I would say the photos come out cropped big time! i would say at LEAST 2" on each side of the photo are cropped off... When i go into the cropping adjustments, I am not able to just print the whole picture, something HAS to be cropped... I dont frame my pics to allow for this.. I brought my concern to the head photo person in the lab who then called their help center and they said there is nothing they can do, the customers (my) camera takes "too big" photos.... I am so irratated with that answer... Is this really whats going on!?

Thanks in advance!

What size did you print? The 40D takes photos in 2:3 aspect ratio. If you try to print 5:7 or 8x10 (4:5), for example, you'll lose bits of the photo. 4x6, 8x12, 12x18 etc. are all 2:3.

oh, thanks! Yes, trying to print the standard 4x6 & 8x10. Seems that even at 8x12 I was getting some crop...

Would the true digital size (4x5.3) still crop my photos?

Your 4x6 prints should not have any cropping. The 8x10 prints will, losing a 2 inches in the long direction (an 8x12 would not have any cropping). 4x5.3 would still crop, because it's not 2:3. Anytime you're printing in an aspect ration other than 2:3, you're going to either have to crop the image or compress it in one direction to make it fit.

The "true digital size" of the 40D is 2592 x 3888 pixels which is a ratio of 2:3.
4x5.3 (3x4) is the aspect ratio of Point & Shoot cameras and Olympus DSLRs.

I've never liked anything I got from them when I ran some tests a few years ago. Bite the bullet & get an editing program like PS Elements & learn how to resize & sharpen your images. Then find someone in your area that won't "Auto Adjust" them. If you have a Costco near you, they're excellent in my area.

Jim G wrote in post #7649425
What size did you print? The 40D takes photos in 2:3 aspect ratio. If you try to print 5:7 or 8x10 (4:5), for example, you'll lose bits of the photo. 4x6, 8x12, 12x18 etc. are all 2:3.

Exactly... and as an added note, all Canon (most SLR's) cameras do this, so follow the advice of the others here and invest in an application to control your cropping. Most one-hour places offer on the spot cropping through the kiosk, but it's better to do it at home and take the images the way you want them. Plus, you will usually get prints from the "better" machine at the same time, ultimately providing better results.

I don't mean to hijack the thread but I have a general question. If I'm going to print a photo at a size that is the same as my camera's ratio, so no cropping is required, should I still resize the photo to the exact size (in inches) that I'll be getting it printed? Will this affect the print in anyway? I assume if I sharpen the photo before I resize and after, they might be different, but what about resizing?

I honestly haven't printed one of my photos properly yet and I have no idea on what I should or shouldn't do.

If you're upsizing, then you may want to have more control of the final results and post sharpening by doing it yourself. However, if the upsizing is minimal, then most labs are far capalable of quality results. The question is, how large do you want to print from your 400D?

seriously, you have a computer obviously, didn't your camera come with digital photopro or zoombrowser? get a printer for under a hundred at the local staples, you will get about seventy five bucks worth of ink with it (included) and learn what you can by keeping asking questions and trying new things till you get what you want, at home, without dealing with someone at walgreens that obviously doesn't know as much as you have learned here in this thread already. Printmaking is the best part of this, you are missing out!

when you order through walmart it does explain that cropping will occour and it will allow you to adjust the section you want cropped

If I want an 8x10 I will crop my self then print through mpix (i recomend them) and I get exactly what I want in the photo, I try and take in to consideration the crop factor when taking photos, so when I crop for printing nothing important is left out.

amonline wrote in post #7651514
If you're upsizing, then you may want to have more control of the final results and post sharpening by doing it yourself. However, if the upsizing is minimal, then most labs are far capalable of quality results. The question is, how large do you want to print from your 400D?

Mine was just a general question. The largest I have printed is a photo as a poster covering 2 A4 pages but it was different as I was printing it as a magazine.

marcus769 wrote in post #7649389
... they said there is nothing they can do, the customers (my) camera takes "too big" photos....

Classic!

Its definitely right up there with a response I got from a lady who said "Why are you still using such a large outdated camera? digital cameras are cheap nowadays!". She was refering to my 5D Mark II.

Don't you just love them? Sadly, people think they give good advice & some take it.

kasey wrote in post #7657678
Classic!

Its definitely right up there with a response I got from a lady who said "Why are you still using such a large outdated camera? digital cameras are cheap nowadays!". She was refering to my 5D Mark II.

That's hilarious. Did you tell her you bought it a few months ago for so much money?