Digital cameras forum: 4x6 Prints with 4x5.33 photos

The aspect ratio is the relation between the horizontal and vertical sizes of the photo. To calculate the aspect ratio simple divide the width or a photo by its height. For example TV in normal mode has an aspect ratio of 4:3 or in other words if we were to divide the width of the screen by its height the result would be 4/3. Wide-screen TV format has an aspect ratio of 16:9.

Small digital cameras have an aspect ratio of 4:3, the same as the standard television screen.

Some small digital cameras can also be set to an aspect ratio of:
4:3 and 3:2 and 16:9

Most DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras have an aspect ratio of 3:2

The standard 6 x 4 inch photo paper has an aspect ratio of 3:2
which is also the aspect ratio for 35mm film.
So, if possible, set the camera to 3:2 to match 6 x 4 inch paper.

Most photo paper standards were set about 100 years ago.
10 x 8, 7 x 5 and 5 x 4 were the size of the film used in the original "press" cameras.
In this day and time, there are no new cameras that have such aspect ratios.

The 6 x 4 inch paper happened sometime after the 35mm camera became popular. Over 50 years ago.

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Before I send any of my 4:3 photos to be printed, I use software to crop them the a 3:2 aspect ratio. That lets me decide what gets cropped out.

It would be nice if photo paper manufacturers came out with a standard paper for 4:3 aspect ratio.

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I only see 4x6 option in snapfish.com.

Thank you four your answer ! I agree with you about 8x10 format..which should actually be 8x12. I cannot stand the fact that 4x5.33 prints are much more expensive and you get a lower price only when you get prepaid cards for hundreds of prints...
I often use Irfanview to process my photos. Irfanview gives you some possibilities to process many photos simultaneously. However, I am not aware if this software provide a fast, "thumbnails kind" of way to crop pictures from 4X5.33 (4.5X6) to 4x6. Do you know other software that offers a fast way to crop photos before going to print them ? I prefer to butcher the photos myself

Here are a couple of online print services that offer some odd size prints:
http://mpix.com/PrintPricing.aspx
http://www.winkflash.com/content/pricelist.asp

I like the Mpix, it has very high quality prints (used by many pros and those who are serious about their print quality) but costs more.

I usually just do a quick crop on my photo using the manufacturer's photo editing software to get the exact size or aspect ratio I want. But if you are a very maticulous photographer who frames your shots exactly without any room to do any cropping, then there are online services that can print these, like the one above.

If I get what the OP's saying, they'd rather white on the sides than losing part of the image? I'm thinking most image software (Photoshop and even MS Paint has it) allows you to expand/stretch the canvas size so you've got whitespace on the side(s), then you can cut it down to size or leave it as is.