US Print service for FourThirds format?

[prbetts]

Anyone have reasonable online print service that will print Four Thirds format. Preferably using Adobe RGB color?

[mikefellh]

If you mean without cropping, all you have to do is choose a print ratio that's in a 4:3 format, like 8x6, 12x9, etc.

If the days of film the photo lab would always crop your images to the print size, but they never said anything so as to not hear the complaints from the neophytes (unless they looked at their negatives and wondered why there was more in the negative than in the print).

Personally though I crop on my computer for the size of print they are going to make...that way I'm in full control and I'm not going to lose something important...or I add a border if everything in the image is important enough to keep.

[NaturalWoman]

rather than post a new thread i'll use this one.

personally, i don't mind the odd ball or 4/3rds format 10 x 15, etc. i rarely print for myself, but i do have people that buy from me.

they always want a standard size 8 x 10, 11 x 14 - sometimes because they already have a frame or mat at home and it's easy to frame. i had one person willing to pay for custom framing, so printing and framing was not a problem, whatever the size was, it was. then there are some that want standard size, but they would lose a lot of the image.

so what are my options for getting the 3:2 look in a 4:3 camera. i read somewhere that i should put tape over something? the viewfinder or the LCD screen. i do have an e620, so i can change the format, but i also have older prints where it's too late to change anything.

i don't want to crop off any of the image, so i'm going to have to either

1.
2.


suggestions.

i hope this makes sense. to recap: i don't want to crop my photo, but i will need to print a 3:2 ratio image from a 4:3 camera (for some clients). what are my options. thanks.

maybe i should learn how to frame and cut mats, eh?

i do use adorama for printing and they are good at not cropping my photos, but then there is a huge 1-3 inch white border either at the top/side/bottom of photo. then a client tries to mat that an an 11 x 14 mat and there's a white space.

perhaps i could back up a bit and leave room for cropping. i always crop in camera and do very little post processing or cropping. maybe that could work in the future, not sure what to do about the photos i've already taken. just tell people, no, they can't have them in the 3:2 format.

well at least i found some frames that don't need to be custom made. ready made 4/3 frames: http://www.framedestination.com/FDI_.../default/op/1/

[sonyhome]

4x3 is standard for most point and shoot cameras so you should find frames for it now. If you shoot for 2x3 then you'll loose say 30% of pixels in the crop.

Personally I prefer the 4x3 format. The 2x3 is no more natural than 4x3, it's just an artefact of camera makers reusing 35mm movie film for cheaper 35mm/SLR cameras.

That said it'd be good to have a list of services with what they do or don't do:

- Snapfish will adjust the photos automatically.
It typically fail on difficult photos, like a photo of a planet which is a round item with
texture and color, surrounded by a lot of black.

- Costco I'm told does a good job and allows you to use their color profiles, but I have not used myself.

[olynut]

Natural Woman - I have the same problem as you, I perfect my composition in-camera and rarely crop in post-processing.

However clients always want 6x4's, when they think of a photo, they think of a 6x4.

Naturally I shoot quite tight so often have problems getting my images to a 6x4.

So I stopped having 6x4's, I now start
prints at 5x7. I rarely have problems with 5x7's, it's only a narrow clip off each side.

I much prefer the 4/3rds look anyway, much more aesthetically pleasing.

6x4 prints are so snapshot-ish

[MrStiles]

This is from MPIX printing service:
Our printers will only print to the aspect ratio of our standard print sizes. You will need to crop your image to our standard sizes before uploading to ensure the correct cropping is done. If you have images that our not size to our standard print sizes you will have to place them on a canvas in Photoshop to get the desired sizes. Example a 9x12 image would be placed on a 11x14 canvas (white border) in Photoshop to get the custom print size.
To calculate the aspect ratio for yourself, simply divide the longest dimension of your image by the shortest dimension. The result is the second component of the ratio. For example: 6 divided by 4 = 1.5

With digital photography, you can solve the aspect ratio problem entirely, by uploading images with an aspect ratio that matches your intended print size.

Aspect ratios for Mpix prints:

For a 4 x 6" print: Your image should have an aspect ratio of 1:1.5
For a 5 x 7" prints: Your image should have an aspect ratio of 1:1.4
For an 8 x 10" print: Your image should have an aspect ratio of 1:1.25
For a 16 x 20" print: Your image should have an aspect ratio of 1:1.25
For a 20 x 30" print: Your image should have an aspect ratio of 1:1.5
For a Wallet-size print: Your image should have an aspect ratio of 1:1.4

[Ian]

I don't know about the US, but most photo print labs in Europe will now print 4:3 without cropping. If the paper roll is 15cm wide, they cut the short side to 11.25cm, or if the roll is 10cm the long side would be 13.3cm.

It does amaze me that you can't easily get ink jet photo paper in 4:3 format. But here in Europe the A4 paper size is widely available and this is 1:1.41 and so there is less paper wastage or less cropping if you are printing borderless using this size - 8.26x11.7 inches or, if trimmed for 4:3 at 11x8.26 inches, so only an 0.7 inch strip needs to be trimmed off.

Panasonic did have an initiative with Epson a while back to produce and support 16:9 widescreen format printer paper. I don't see much of that around though.

Ian