Wednesday 2 March 2022

16:9 aspect ratio


During my first decades of photography I invariably found myself working with 135mm film i.e. film negatives or transparencies measuring 36mm x 24mm, with an aspect ratio of 3:2 and now badly named "full frame". When digital came along, after using a few cameras with small 3:2 sensors, I adopted the Four Thirds system with the sensor aspect ratio of 4:3. I was never entirely comfortable with 3:2, particularly in portrait format, and found 4:3 smuch better in this respect. But, over the years I've used cameras that offer both 3:2 and 4:3. In more recent times, following the widespread adoption of High Definition screens on TVs and monitors, and the fact that many images are now viewed only on such screens, I've become comfortable with the 16:9 aspect ratio. These three ratios (with an occasional 1:1) meet all my needs.

Compositions where the interest is concentrated in a wide, narrow area (such as horizons, streets etc) are particularly suited to 16:9, as are these shots of a canal basin in Worcester.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2