I own a Canon PowerShot SD880 IS. When I put the pictures from it onto my computer, just about every photo editing program I have says the photo is not a 4x6. So I always have to crop the photo or resize the photo. Is there a way to make my camera take 4x6 photos?
Note: I already tried changing the recording pixels. In every recording pixel setting, I still did not get a 4x6.
Having trouble taking 4x6 photos with Canon PowerShot SD880 IS?
No, you will have to crop, or print border-less, at which point your printer will auto crop. The height to width ratio for a 4x6 print is .667, the PowerShot SD880, takes pictures at a .75 height to width ratio.
Having trouble taking 4x6 photos with Canon PowerShot SD880 IS?
The print size you need is irrelevant, don't turn down the recorded pixels. Keep them at maximum quality and size.
The trouble is that you camera (and almost all point and shoot cameras, and Olympus DSLR's) use a sensor that is 4:3 ratio, 4 units wide by 3 units high. The same as standard TV.
35mm film, and most DSLR's, are 3:2 ratio. They are wider than a 4:3 shot.
Any image editor or display program can help you with this. You have two choices on how to handle the problem... you can print the entire image on 4x6 stock and leave a border on both sides, or you can crop to the correct ratio, which will cut off a strip along the top and bottom of your picture, but cover the entire 4x6 paper with your image. The printer driver and printer should handle everything after that.. you should just have to choose 4x6 and whether to leave borders or crop.
In this situation, I tend to print my image as taken, and trim the borders off.
Unfortunately, most cameras are fixed at a 4:3 Width:Height ratio. You want 1.5:1 or a (4 1/2):3 ratio for an uncropped 4x6 print. Sad to say, but you will simply have to force yourself to compose your shots so that you don't fill up the entire frame with the subject of interest. That way you can afford to crop to 4x6 and not mind losing some of the picture.
You can test it out by photographing a subject, copy the picture to your computer and crop to 4x6. Then mark off the area on your viewing screen with small pieces of tape on the edge of the LCD screen (on the body of the camera, not on the LCD itself) when viewing the same image on the camera. Now you have the actual 4x6 cropped zone to fit your composition.
Hope that helps.
