Posts by greg Eden

Olympus E-420 digital SLR

4:3 is dead

CrackedButter, yes, me and 500 million of my nearest friends.

The overwhelming majority of photos are printed on 6"x4" paper = 3:2

If you have a 3:2 camera you do not need to use Photoshop or Irfanview to adjust every shot - they just fit. The scary part is that most people who put their photos in for printing do not even realise that there has been a slice automatically removed from the top and bottom to make them fit.

Professional photographers who submit photos to newspapers etc will use a professional grade camera, not a 4/3s Olympus.

The market will decide the winner, I would not buy shares in 4:3 DSLRs.

4:3 is dead

Charles, we are getting off the point here, and I think our definitions of "traditional" vary. I had two film SLRs prior to going digital and they were both Pentax and 3:2. Most modern glossy paper and picture frames are 3:2.

The point of my original post is that the 4/3s consortium are flogging a dead horse. My photos are displayed electronically, I have not printed in years. TVs are widescreen, computers are widescreen and 3:2 is close to widescreen with only small black bands on each edge, whereas 4:3 displayed on a 16:9 TV only uses 83% of the available screen area. I use a Pentax K200D and am very pleased Pentax choose to stick with the 3:2 format.

4:3 is dead

Charles, traditional photo paper is 3:2 (6"x4") thus no cropping is required.

CrackedButter, while all p&s are 4:3 most DSLRs are 3:2 which is the traditional photo aspect ratio. My point is the 3:2 used by Nikkon, Canon, Pentax etc in their DSLRs makes much more sense in 2008. Walk into any computer shop, all the monitors are 16:10, all new laptops are 16:10 even EeePCs.

DSLRs are supposed to be a cut above p&s compacts, Olympus/Panasonic would be better off going back to 3:2 or developing a 16:9 or 16:10 system.

4:3 is DEAD.

4:3 is dead

All modern LCDs are 16:10, we no longer need 4:3 format. The old 3:2 format equals 15:10 and fits rather nicely.

Mr Olympus - time to drop the four thirds it is a lame duck.