Aspect ratio of digital photos (Canon) and printing 4R

[sojourn88]

My Canon Digi camera S40 gives me a aspect ratio of 4:3
2272 pixels / 1704 pixels = 4/3

If I want to print out a 4R size photo without cropping, (4R aspect ratio is 3/2, ie, 6 inch /4 inch = 3/2), how best can I resize my file, to change the aspect ratio from 4/3 to 3/2 without image distortion?

What I did was to have the Canvas size increased by PhotoShop to :
2684 / 1790 ~ 3/2, but it means that the border all around created is uneven, the horizontal is 412 pix (2684-2272) and the vertical is 86 pix (1790-1704) assuming a landscape format.

The Canon service department give me a good-for-nothing advise ... do not frame your shots so tight and expect some cropping when printed out on 4R.

Does any one have this problem?
Please help.

[LiOnElLiN]

option #1: some shops offer a 4:3 ratio for their 4R photo papers
option #2: print it on normal 4R and request for "fit in" (results in borders at the top and bottom of photo)

...about the good for nothing canon customer service person, get the name and lodge a complaint. it'll do us all some good if canon gets rid of the useless people working for them

[headlesschook]

You cannot resize from 4:3 to 3:2 without distortion. if you want to fit the image to a 3:2 format, you'll get the white borders on 2 sides.

you could always print in a 4.5x6 inch size, but getting albums will be a pain.


Canon did not give you "good for nothing" advise. with digital, always shoot with a little space to spare. You can always crop away, but you can put back what you didnt include in the first place. Also, shooting with spare space allows you to crop to fit the other print sizes. 5R is 5:7, 8R is 4:5 etc.

[Bromba]

Are there any other constraints on the picture size (in pixels) to avoid any cropping?

I always make sure the aspect ratio of my pictures is same as the paper on which it
will be printed, yet sometimes there is still very minor cropping. Usually it's not a
problem but some pictures I need to crop really tight and after the second cropping
during printing the result is not so nice.

I suspect they might crop to pixel size being multiple of 16, but actually I am just
guessing. Anyone got some idea?

[headlesschook]

usually there will be a 5% crop or so. it's for paper handling. to print full bleed, a slightly larger (than paper size) image is used, with some of the image printed outside the paper. otherwise, there will be a risk of an unwanted border.

if u request for prints with a border, there should be no cropping if your prints are of the right aspect ratio.

[Bromba]

Headlesschook: thanks for the hint. I'll try it out next time.