[Leica] New Leica! : now Proportions.....

[John McMaster]

The UK had full plate (8.5" x 6.5") as well as half and quarter plates.   I usually print a 15" x 10" image on A3 paper, this fits well into a 20" x 16" frame - so mixing two ratios ;-)  If you print on A3+ (~13" x 19") then you get 2:3 with 1/2" borders.

john

-----Original Message-----

I have always wondered about this......
If you go back in time, and look at negative sizes......
35mm = 2:3 ratio.
Then there is/was .... Square ( never saw square paper), 2 1/4 x 3 1/4, 3 1/4 x 4 1/4  sized cameras.  None of which are 2x3.  Nor 4x5, the apparent standard for traditional paper ( the other is 5x7).
Tradition has only offered paper in 5x7 or 4x5 sizes.  Never 2x3. ( although with the advent of machine printers, 4x6 was offered)

Now that we use computer printers to print, the paper is 8 1/2 x 11 or 11 x 17.  Europe uses a slightly different size, but still not 2:3.  What camera(s) support this ratio?

Frames come in any custom size, but the standard ones are 4x5 or 5x7 or 11x14 in proportion.  Notice, no 2x3?

Purest types ( some) want every scene to be 2x3 ratio.  Cropping is a 4 letter word.  
What scene is 2x3, precisely?
What output is 2x3?  Paper is not.  Computer Screens (nominal proportions are 16x9 or 4x3 ) are not.

You must accept the thought that cropping is required, somewhere, sometime, someplace.

And as Sir Ted would ( paraphrasing) say.... stop worrying and go take pix.......

Frank Filippone

Red735i at verizon.net


The Q2 will will present an interessting artistic quandry of those who refuse to crop the sacred 3:2 format.

Will throwing the switch from 28 to 35 or 50 or 75 be a sinful crop, or present a whole new holy rectangle?

ric