16:9 or 4:3?

xdronedk · Jun 10, 2019

I heard 4:3 is best for Mavic Air, what do you recommend? I also have an GoPro Hero 7, should I use the same aspect ratio as my drone which means 4:3 on both?

msinger · Jun 10, 2019

If you don't want the image to be cropped, you should use 4:3.

brett8883 · Jun 10, 2019

xdronedk said:
I heard 4:3 is best for Mavic Air, what do you recommend? I also have an GoPro Hero 7, should I use the same aspect ratio as my drone which means 4:3 on both?

All the Mavic Air does to make 16:9 is turn off pixels on the sensor making it lower resolution. So shoot in 4:3 and then you have the options to crop after if you need to

xdronedk · Jun 10, 2019

Great, thank you. I know gopro is OFF topic. But would you shoot it in 4:3 as Well?

msinger · Jun 10, 2019

4:3 is the way to go if you want the largest possible photo.

skippyscage · Jun 10, 2019

I shoot 4:3 but crop back to 2:3 so it fits with my normal photography and website - I have no idea why an option for 2:3 isn't there as that's standard for SLRs

xdronedk · Jun 11, 2019

Would it be a problem when editing if i use 4:3 on my drone and 16:9 on my gopro? I mean wouldn't I get some black bars because of the different aspect ratios?

cyeung · Jun 11, 2019

xdronedk said:
Would it be a problem when editing if i use 4:3 on my drone and 16:9 on my gopro? I mean wouldn't I get some black bars because of the different aspect ratios?

I think you can only set the aspect ratio for photos, not video. If you were to encounter this situation, I think you would want to crop the 4:3 video rather than letterboxing it.

xdronedk · Jun 11, 2019

cyeung said:
I think you can only set the aspect ratio for photos, not video. If you were to encounter this situation, I think you would want to crop the 4:3 video rather than letterboxing it.

Ah right. So the video is 16:9 by default? I should record in 16:9 on my gopro as well right?

cyeung · Jun 11, 2019

xdronedk said:
Ah right. So the video is 16:9 by default? I should record in 16:9 on my gopro as well right?

Yes, the drone footage would be 16:9. If I was in your situation, I would set my GoPro's aspect ratio to 16:9.

xdronedk · Jun 11, 2019

cyeung said:
Yes, the drone footage would be 16:9. If I was in your situation, I would set my GoPro's aspect ratio to 16:9.

Great, ty!

pmshop · Jun 11, 2019

if you want it to fit most TVs, 16x9

joeruby · Jun 11, 2019

In my mind, I thought about what I would view the final product on.
8.5" by 11" (AR = 1.29) photo paper, 13" by 19" (AR = 1.46) photo paper, 8" by 10" (AR = 1.25) photo paper, My 15" UHD (4K) (16 by 9) (AR = 1.77) laptop, Our big screen UHD (4K) (16 by 9) TV (AR = 1.77), my desktop UHD (4K) computer monitor (16 by 9) (AR = 1.77). Since my most often used display devices are (16 by 9) (AR = 1.77) I plan everything toward the aspect ratio of AR = 1.77. My wife and I have this discussion every several months when she looks at some old photos at 4 by 3 (AR = 1.33) Then we bought two Samsung Android tablets 8" and 9.7" (4 by 3) (AR= 1.33). Gad what nightmare when you have taken and stored photos for about 70 years! Yes I was processing Ansco color film in my closet under the stairs when I was 12 years old - ha ha.
I hope this helps.
Joe
KC7GHT

kaitokid535 · Jun 12, 2019

Selecting aspect ratio is crucial if you only output the image as JPEG, since if you output it as RAW you can still adjust the cropping in Lightroom or similar applications.

16:9 is a good choice if you want it to have a cinematic kind of cropping while 4:3 is for portrait mostly.

Going to 4:3 crop is best since you can still crop the image to 16:9.

Ray&Paula · Jun 15, 2019

kaitokid535 said:
Selecting aspect ratio is crucial if you only output the image as JPEG, since if you output it as RAW you can still adjust the cropping in Lightroom or similar applications.

16:9 is a good choice if you want it to have a cinematic kind of cropping while 4:3 is for portrait mostly.

Going to 4:3 crop is best since you can still crop the image to 16:9.

You are totally correct....... In addition, using the 4.3 aspect ratio you can also adjust it from top to bottom in post and choose the desired look of the overall finished photo.