Attached Link: http://www.paper-paper.com/weight.html

Posts from our European members sometimes contain image sizes like A3 and A1. There is a standard adopted for paper weight and sizes on an international scale. Confusing as it might be to those used to "inches", the newer metric scale make sense. Now...what does it really mean when you want a 10" x 8" print or a 7" x 5"? I post this in response to a thread on software designed to help upsize images with little lose of detail..."Genuine Fractals at 50% off" or a similar title. Attached is a link relating the ISO metric sizes to Inch sizes familiar to some of us. Who knows, this might be required reading someday. TomDart.

Thanks Tom - it never occured to me that others used different measurement methods.
I'll keep it in mind when making any posts :) It can sometimes get difficult trying to choose words that I know are universal when I make posts here. I know it can lead to confusion.

Message edited on: 12/11/2005 04:59

It was me I said A3... etc oops sorry. A3 297 x 420 mm and of course A4 297 x 210mm are standard domestic printer sizes here and I assumed in the US too. In the A size scale the pages is double or half that of the size larger or smaller. A0 being the largest and A7 the smallest. I guess we all forget sometimes how diverse the Rosity membership is. Good link Cheers Simon

And..we got our measures from the Brits, I believe! Metric has been slow to cacth on in the USA except in industry where the scale is standard. When I work jewelry, all is in metric measure and weights vary from gram to dwt. In paper I think of 8 1/2 x 11 inches which is not quite A4 either way at 216x279mm. This is a standard document size here. Standardization is good but old habits are hard to break. : ) No problem...conversion is easy enough.

Everyday commercial frames and photos are generally thought of in the USA as "wallet size", 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 inch sizes. Some of these and propionally larger ones do not precisely fit the 35mm format or the sensor dimension ratios. Yikes enough of this...I'll crop and mat as the image calls.

4x6, 5x7, 8x10 should fit exactly the 35mm format and DSLR sensor 3:2 aspect ratio, the compact Digitals though have a 4:3 aspect ratio so wont fit the 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 paper sizes exactly

The A sizes also require cropping of the 3:2 aspect ratio for borderless printing without cropping the viewable image.

Like you say, if you are going to cut and mount it doesnt really matter as you just cut the matt to fit the print.

Message edited on: 12/11/2005 16:38

Print sizes and their cropping are tricky because they weren't made for the 35mm film frame. 4x6, 6x9, 8x12, 11x17, 12x18, 16x24, etc. are the correct aspect ratio for 35mm film (1:1.5 now known as 3:2). 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10, and 11x14 are the result of those actual sized camera films. They were merely contact prints, or direct proportional blowups (excepting for the 5x7 camera negatives) starting with 4x5 (double is 8x10, quadruple is 16x20, get it?). When those like Kodak and Fuji started making 35mm film (or the camera manufacturers, I can't remember which - chicken/egg?!) and settled on a negative that was 24mmx36mm, no one ever stopped making the 4x5, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, etc. FRAMES. So, nowadays, the cropping just drives people nuts and no one knows where this all came from. As for digital sensors - the first digital cameras were made with VIDEO CCDs - 1:1.33 (look at your averagve TV set in the living room - and the ratio is now known as 4:3). People want their 4x6's and don't know why they are cropped. Only somewhat recently have camera manufacturers made their DSLR censors 1:1.5 (or 3:2) to reflect their normally used proportions.

I can easily see where document paper sizes should be standardized for international exchange...but photos? In Europe, what are the "common" photo print sizes? Do these go according to the ISO paper standards or something else? Is an online photo printer in England going to offer 5x7, 8x10 etc. or other dimensions? I almost feel ignorant asking this question..it is one I simply did not consider previously.

Attached Link: Photobox

My head hurts lol Anyway one major UK high street retailer/photo service offers 6x4,7x5,9x6,10x8,12x8,15x10 (sizes also in metric) as standard service A4 ,A3,A2 and A1 (expensive) from an inkjet large format printer. (Depending on image resolution) Many high street photo labs only offer 6x4,7x5,9x6 Photobox is the largest (I think) online photo printer here and thay offer a wide variety of print sizes and also lots of nick nacks! See link, far too much to write here! This is UK, so cant speak for what is available in continental Europe