SafetySam Loc: Colorado

I am from the "old school" and have used Hasselblad systems (square format) for most of my 35 year photography career so composing the photo was relatively easy (used the drop in format screen over the viewing screen) and quick to "see the crop factor" either horizontal or vertical . . did very little 35mm photography as my needs worked well with the square format.

Since switching to the Nikon D810, I have had some issues in "seeing" the cropped image in the viewfinder or live view . . I still seem to want to use the full frame (when things get quick and hectic) and my "eye" sees the composition as "just fine" . . but when I crop to print, my mental composition has not taken the crop factor (example: full frame to 8x10) into consideration . . and I wind up printing with large borders top and bottom to compensate . .

Is there a method to change the view directly to the crop factor so "what you see is what you get . .?" in the viewfinder. I have tried using some tape over the live view screen and that works for live view, but it doesn't help with the viewfinder image . . seems there should be some adjustment available . . .

Would make my life MUCH simpler . . and smoother photo shoots.

Thanks for the suggestions/directions.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

That's a good question and I look forward to see what others come up with. But what I've learned over the years, is to leave extra room around my subject so that I can crop in post to whatever frame I might choose later.

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

Seems to me that instead of a change to the camera, you will probably have to make a change to your previsualization.

SafetySam Loc: Colorado

Jeep Daddy: thanks for the reply . .

Yep, I try to leave enough around the subject to crop also, but I find myself reverting to the "use the full image" mentality when I get engrossed in portraits and scrambling to accommodate time in capturing landscapes . . . always hated to "crop wasted space" as negatives were meant to be used "to the full" . .

SafetySam Loc: Colorado

You are most probably correct . . but it's hard to break a long habit . . just thought there may be an easier way than to keep a hammer around to beat it into my head . .

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I'll sometimes save about 15% on the long side, but mostly inadvertently wind up using the full frame.

Then I print 8x12s if I don't want to crop.

SafetySam Loc: Colorado

I also wind up with 8x12 format for full frame, but when I send these out to print (don't want to invest in a printer at this time), the images have to be resized to canvas OR the print shop crops out the image to their format automatically . .

Too much time PP to correct the format issue

Quixdraw Loc: x

Just checked my D810 - it appears to drop in crop lines when I select image area from the menu. Four choices one of which is 5:4.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I print a lot through Costco. (They also print 8x12s.)
I had an instance where I had to do half a dozen 8x10s of specific images. Costco will present a movable crop mask if the aspect ratio of the desired print does not match the file's original aspect ratio. In those instances I cropped for "best look". The recipient was very pleased with the 8x10s.
Different print sizes always present a quandary for me.
I've been trying to compose first with the full frame view and then another, backing off a bit for cropping room. (Saves switching ratio formats.) That's why I like a zoom, but the problem then arises if I'm at the widest, and can't back off any further.

bleirer

If you do leave a little room I'd suggest unclicking 'delete cropped pixels' in Photoshop. That way clicking outside of a crop area gives you the entire image back for unlimited do-overs.

If you do get into trouble, Google content aware scaling. It lets you protect the subject but rescale the background. https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/content-aware-scaling.html

SafetySam Loc: Colorado

THANK YOU!

This appears to solve my composition issue . . . now if I can just remember to use it for framing . .

Appreciate all the suggestions and direction . . !

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

If your shooting anything but 2:3 aspect ratio, you cannot print the full frame. ie. 2:3 aspect ration gives you perfect 4X6, 8X12, 12X16, 16X24, and 20X30 prints.
If you want standard 4X5 and 8X10 prints, then you need to set your aspect ratio to 4:5.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

If you want something a little more advanced than the drop-down masks in the D810, click the link: http://www.viewfindermasks.com

I worked in the school portrait industry for 33 years. We used litho film masks in our film cameras. Later, I designed a mask for Canon dSLRs. A company in Ohio (Pro Camera?) installed them for us. Finally, the folks linked above came out with a laser-etching process to scribe screens. Call 'em and discuss your needs.

SafetySam Loc: Colorado

Yep, used the same type of masks in a Beatie-Coleman 70mm "box camera" for underclassmen in the senior portraits field so my photographers could all be uniform in their framing . . (still used the Hasselblad EL for the seniors for better quality) . . . hadn't thought about this type of mask . . but would it apply to the viewfinder or just the live view image . .?

I will contact them to follow up . . Thanks for the suggestion!

SafetySam Loc: Colorado

Tried this change . . the viewfinder shows the crop marks, but the live view appears to crop to the selected format only without the additional full frame (no "crop marks", just reduced image size)

That works when either shooting using just the view finder giving me an overall view of the scene and the crop marks within, as well as the "cropped image" only aspect in the live view mode which I can take more time to compose wither a landscape or portraits . .

Will try this for a while and see how it works for me.

Thanks again!