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Why weren't 8x12 prints ever a common printing size? I know that today such prints can be made through places like Adorama. It doesn't make any sense because the aspect ratio of 35mm film cameras, modern full frame DSLR's and APS-C DSLR's all have sensors with a 2:3 aspect ratio.
Printing an 8x10 photo from a 35mm film camera or a full frame DSLR means that you're only printing from a 24mm by 30mm segment of the sensor, so you're handing over creative control of your photos to some pimply faced kid.
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because 90% of population does not undertand the difference between 4:3 and 3:2 and 5:4 and they can't figure out that some parts of the picture are missing and the stores decided to carry fewer sizes to simplify inventory.
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Can you tell the people doing the enlargement to print it on 8X10 paper with no cropping of the image? You'll end up with more white space, but so what?
because 90% of population does not undertand the difference between 4:3 and 3:2 and 5:4 and they can't figure out that some parts of the picture are missing and the stores decided to carry fewer sizes to simplify inventory.
That's about it.
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freeradical wrote:
you're handing over creative control of your photos to some pimply faced kid.
This just isn't true. You crop the image yourself using iPhoto or Preview or Photoshop or whatever and then the lab prints your file. Even if you're printing straight from the card you can control the crop at any kiosk I've used, like Costco, Target, Walgreens.
As for why 8x10, for portraits in vertical orientation ("portrait" orientation) its a more pleasing aspect. Vertical 8x12 portraits seem weirdly elongated.
I would agree that 8x12 is far better for horizontal landscapes etc, and its fantastic that most digital printing allows for this now. Costco's 8x12 and 8x10 are the same price $1.50. Getting an 8x12 fifteen years ago was not very easy.
The real problem is that the FRAME industry hasn't caught up and all the shelves are full of 8x10s and 11x14s. I wish there were 12x18 frames to go with Costco's $3 prints of that size.
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Just framed an art show. 8x10 or 11x14 or 16x20 frames were half the price (and half the trouble to find) of a "custom" size.
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Oh, probably because the origins of photography were based on 8"x10" sheets of film, or glass plates, and they were cut down to 4 4"x5" sheets for smaller cameras. And prints were made by the contact print method.
The last few decades can't erase the 15 decades before them. I understand that almost all automated printers use roll paper that is 4", 5", 8", or 11" wide (rarely) so printing a print using one of those as a dimension is as simple as rotating the image, and cutting the print off to the correct length.
