Why are my 35 mm digital photos cropped when I get them developed?

Question

I usually use Walgreen's online system and in the past had never had this problem before but, lately every time I request my digital photos developed at 4" x 6", Walgreen's always makes my the 4" x 6" photos cropped and enlarged. They say that if I ask for the 4" x 5.3" photo size, then they can make the photo look like the picture that I see on my computer. But, I don't want the 4" x 5.3", it's too small. What is the problem here? Why can't I get my photos in 4" x 6" with the whole image as I took it?

Answer 1

Because the ratio of the length to width are different.

3 is 60% of 5, and 4 is 2/3 (67%) of 6. If your original image is one, and your print is the other, something has to go.

It's like a 4:3 tv and a 16:9 tv... you either get black bars because the image can't fill the screen (not good on a photo) or something gets cropped... which is what pan and scan is all about.

Answer 2

What your lab is saying that the images you have supplied are proportioned such that the full frame will fit 4x5.3.

You don't want that, you want full frame at 4x6.

If we enlarge your photo to 6 inches wide, we have to enlarge your photo 113.2% (5.3 @113.2% = 6 inches), but that also means that the  4 inch height gets enlarged the same amount (4 @113.2% = 4.528")

Do you see the problem? Your original photo is not proportioned to fit 4x6 at full frame. It needs to get cropped by .528" somewhere.

The only way to get the whole image in the 4x6 area without cropping, is to distort the image so that it was 4 inches tall @100%, but then stretch the width to 6 inches wide @113.2%.

I bet your significant other wouldn't appreciate the extra width.

Answer 3

I doubt you have a 35 mm digital camera, since none exist.  There are DSLR's that are based upon the bodies of a 35 mm SLR, but they do not use 35 mm film AND a digital sensor.

That said unless you have a 4/3rds camera, the ratio of your images is 3:2 (the same as 35 mm film cameras)  The only photos that are exactly that image ratio is the 4x6 inch prints .. . a 5x7 inch print is a 7:5 ratio and an 8x10 a 5:4 ratio ... to be sure they are "cropped the way you want them to be, you will have to "pre-crop" them to  match the size print you want printed ... remember to save the cropped image as a different file name, so you do not overwrite your original image file.

As far as Walgreen's is concerned, either you are talking to someone that is inexperienced working in a lab, or you have a camera that does not have the typical 3:2 image ratio and since you did not choose to tell us the manufacturer or model number, we cannot be of much help