You don’t need a cross shaped sensor, and probably wouldn’t work. Just make a square. Make 1:1 using the full sensor the default aspect ratio for photos regardless of how the camera is being held. If someone wants to crop a different aspect ratio, let them chose it either before or after taking the photo. Also, let them rotate the crop independently of the orientation the camera is being held.
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The ratio mirrors the screen and orientation because from a UX perspective that the easiest and most intuitive way. What you see on screen and how you see it 1 to 1 with the shooting. Vertical makes sense for certain types of content that existed before tiktok (fashion/shopping content comes to mind readily) and it totally possible to shoot within the vertical frame and make good shots you just have to frame wider and be mindful of the horizontal edges more. I personally shoot a ton of video of my son in vertical because it shifts the focus from the terrain around him to him personally when hes running around outside.
The exact opposite problem has existed in traditional photography with normal consumer cameras for decades where taking a vertical oriented shot was uncomfortable and required adjustment of handhold/using a stand with a 90 tilt head.
I actually had a point-and-shoot years back that let you do this. Back in the… 12 megapixel days? You could choose between like 4:3, 16:9, or some weird ratio in between.
I always had it set to the squarest ratio. Wonder if I’d do differently now.
Every stand-alone digital camera I’ve ever had lets the user choose aspect ratio. I even once had a Kodak APS analog film camera that let you do it.
The thing is, there is not much of a reason to actually use the feature for still photos. The biggest benefit is that it changes what appears in the viewfinder to help the photographer frame the shot better if they absolutely know they want an aspect ratio different from that of the full sensor.
No matter what aspect ratio the camera is set to, it always captures the image from the full sensor. If for some reason the camera is set to shoot in JPG, then yes, the resulting image will be cropped. If it’s set to RAW or RAW+JPG, the RAW image is always a full readout of the sensor. It might contain metadata to tell a program like Lightroom to crop it, but it can always be un-cropped in post because the RAW file still has that data in it.
Now for video, the feature makes a whole lot of sense. Only ludicrous expensive pro cameras do real RAW video full sensor readouts. And even then, they’re often not useful because they take up too much space and require too much work to post-process. Only big budget productions need apply.
Many cameras behave drastically differently based on what video resolution and aspect ratio are selected. The user really needs to be intimately familiar with the behavior of the camera to know what settings to choose. For example, I had the Panasonic GH4.
Still photo resolution on that camera, using the full sensor is 4608 x 3456 in a 4:3 aspect ratio.
If you tell the camera to shoot 16:9 1080p video it will use the full width of the sensor, but not read from the top and bottom parts in order to get the right aspect ratio. The image is scaled down to 1080p by the image processor internal to the camera as it records.
If you tell the camera to shoot 4K it will actually only read from a 4K area at the center of the sensor. The effect of this is that 4K footage is always digitally zoomed in relatively speaking.
And don’t even get me started on other possibilities using anamorphic lenses.
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I’d argue that’s just a legacy of such assumptions from the early days of phones and people wanting to “use the whole screen.”
It is objectively more comfortable and easier to video holding the phone vertically. The old flip camera was actually in this form factor and it was amazing.
Disentangling these two orientations would do wonders for video.
Around 40cm of rain fell within just two to three hours
Life-Threatening Storm Surge, Devastating Wind Damage, and Considerable Flooding Expected with Major Hurricane Ian
Major Hurricane Ian will approach the west coast of Florida into Wednesday. Life-threatening storm surge is likely with the highest risk from Naples to Sarasota. Devastating wind damage is expected near the core of Ian. Considerable flooding is expected with widespread, prolonged moderate to major river flooding expected across central Florida. Tornadoes are possible in central and south Florida. Read More >
Old construction before the storm safety standards were updated. This house was probably all balloon frame wood construction on top of a concrete slab or concrete piles so it could essentially be lifted off.
For quite awhile new construction has required the entire first floor of houses built in florida be concrete blocks.
Hasn’t been discussed here yet, but I’m sure everyone is aware of the devastating earthquake that largely affected Turkey and Syria. On the one hand I can’t put into words how awful this is. On the other hand, I can’t deny, I’m feeling some sort of tragedy fatigue. Tsunamis, earthquakes, wars, fires, and of course pandemics just keep coming one after the other. I don’t know if my human brain is capable of wholly handling and processing each one to the level which they are due.
I did just want to share this one side-story of the earthquake that I read this morning.
The government of Turkey right now, we all know is not great. Erdoğan still in charge over there and all. But this is actually somewhat of a very minor relief to see in the wake of the disaster. They are actually going to try to bring justice upon the people who cut corners and built shitty buildings. Construction companies and landlords who murdered people just to pad their own wallets are being arrested. I don’t think you would ever see this in the US. One can only hope it sends the right message and new construction is up to appropriate safety standards.
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Yes, that’s a good first step. It’s also a bunch of convenient scapegoats. I hope they get some broader reforms too. If we see building inspectors and higher up officials getting arrested too, then will know they’re serious.
“ The detentions could help direct public anger toward builders and contractors, deflecting attention away from local and state officials who allowed the apparently sub-standard constructions to go ahead.”
Prevention is absolutely better than persecution, even for landlords.
It’s very similar to the situation China. Massive economic “growth” is the only thing the regime can point to as a success to keep the population in line. It’s never sustainable.
Turkey has a longstanding practice of periodically offering “building code amnesty” where buildings can pay a fee to not be inspected and basically get away with whatever shady crap they did.
This was well known. This was inevitable.