Michael H. Cothran |
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35mm film produces an image with a side ratio of 2:3 (the actual size of the film image is 24mm x 36mm). This translates into "precise" image sizes of 4x6, 6x9, 8x12, 16x24, 20x30, etc. As you can see, only the 4x6 is considered a "standard" size.
A 6x4.5 camera has a ratio slighty shorter - 3:4 (I believe the actual film image size is 42mm x 56mm). This proportion would yield "precise" image sizes of 4x5.33, 8.5x11.3, 12x16, 18x24, etc.As you can see, film proportions have absolutely NOTHING to do with paper proportions. Sad, but true. One would think that in all the years of photography printing, that paper companies would try to match at least some of their paper sizes to the proportions of film sizes. No such luck.
What this means to you, the photographer, is that you will either have to crop your film, or cut your paper. By the way, the most popular paper size is 8x10, which has a side proportion of 2:2.5. Medium format cameras (645 and 67) come closer to this ratio than 35mm cameras, so while you'll still have to crop, you will not have to crop as much. Addressing your inquiry about how large to print, there has been many an opinion expressed over the years. My opinion is that this is 10% objective, and 90% subjective. Quality-wise, the medium format will leave the 35mm in the dust, no argument. However, your opinion of a good, or even acceptable print may be different than someone else's. Not to mention that a good quality, sharp negative/slide will print larger better than a lesser quality negative.
The only way to know how big you can go is to try. Stretch your limits to the point where you no longer feel the print is of good quality, and you'll know how far you can go. Then the next negative may be totally different, and may or may not print as well at the same size.
Michael H. Cothran
www.mhcphoto.net
August 02, 2005
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