GH4 GH4 & Stills: Does aspect ratio matter?

M

mustangranch99

Active member
I've been hearing a lot of conflicting info about this.

Is there one aspect ratio for stills that will garner the best quality/dynamic range over all others? I've been hearing 4:3 is the best aspect ratio for stills because it "uses the entire GH4 sensor".

Is this true or will they all give you the exact same quality?
 
I can't see how the quality would change, but I don't see why you wouldn't use the whole sensor if you could and just crop to what you want later. Better to have more image area and lose it than to not have enough.
 
4:3 will have the most megapixels, but I prefer to crop in-camera so typically set whatever aspect ratio the final image calls for.
 
hard drives are cheap. use the full sensor. no there isn't a quality difference unless there is some other altering factor such as using an anamorphic lens
 
Personally, I set the stills mode to 3:2 ratio because that is how I prefer to compose and deliver my images. It is worth it to use the full sensor if you don't have a preference though!
 
I set it for the closest aspect ratio to what I think the final image will be. I'd love it if Panasonic were to add scope aspect ratios, actually.

I generally shoot 4:3 but if I know I'm going for a landscape 16:9 or punchy square image I'd much rather see the corresponding crop in the viewfinder.

My eye can build nice compositions so much more quickly and automatically if it's WYSIWYG.

Cheers, Hywel
 
I shoot 16:9 for all stills so that the images can be seen on a computer, TV, tablet, etc. without any cropping or black bars. (These days, seems 'electronically' is how most folks are viewing their pics.)
 
You know, at this stage of photography, they should just make 1:1 sensors and let us crop in post.
 
Think he had the ol tongue in cheek, yslee.

I agree, use the full sensor, sometimes it helps later, and it doesn't cost much in data... the still files are small compared with 4k video or the D800 in stills mode.
 
Cosimo Bullo said:
Think he had the ol tongue in cheek, yslee.
Click to expand...

Thanks Cosimo! Indeed my comment was only a small part of the banter photographers have amongst each other.

The "no crop" school of thought is at least as old as the f/64 Group, but I've seen members work that violated their tenents & couldn't care less how someone arrives at the final product.

I do prefer the discipline of cropping in camera & used to choose formats for their native aspect ratio. This often meant using 6x7 cameras for single pages & 35mm for double-page spreads. Seems counterintuitive but hate having my images re-cropped by editors.
 
I apologise then - I really hate the extreme schools of though on both sides. There's the "pure as hell" and then there's the "anything goes" side. For the former there's a refusal to crop, and the latter it's crop to make up for the lack of lenses and composition technique.
 
To add to this a bit, it always comes down to use cases, and another reason to use the full sensor is for unexpected use cases.

For instance, what if the shot you took gains interest by a magazine? Many magazines(not just photography ones) will use photos in wacky ways, in different crops, putting text and whatnot wherever the designer thinks works. Let's say you took a fantastic shot, finished in 16x9 format, and had a request to use it in a magazine, only to find they covered up so much of the key areas with text and its lost a lot of its appeal? In this case it would be a great help to the designer and to your overall image if they had that extra space on top and bottom which isn't nearly as operative to the shot as the 16x9 crop to use for text placement. Or they may even go so far as to take your landscape format and crop it to portrait, you never know, and unless you're a big shot, you can't hardball them to preserve it as it is.

Now, that's just one use case.

Other than that, i think very few professionals would disagree with the statement: Use your equipment to the best of its technical ability. Using any crop mode, is disabling functionality, turning off pixels. If you're using a 4:3 camera, frame a 4:3 shot, BUT: use guide lines to ensure the most appropriate parts of the image are within your anticipated delivery format's ratio.
 
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