Pre-visualizing square crop with DSLR?

[rondal]

I've been shooting 6x6 medium format for years, and would like to have the

option of also using my new DSLR to shoot images that will later be cropped to

square. As with my 6x6 cameras, when using the DSLR I want to continue composing

my images pre-exposure rather than post-exposure. Are there any elegant methods

of doing this?

[leslie_cheung]

Get a live-view camera and mask the LCD.

[godfrey]

or have a focusing screen with customized scribe markings made so that you can do the

framing in in the optical viewfinder, if you need the aid.

 

I just visualize the square framing with my eyes and built in image processor, though. You

have to do the cropping after the exposure on the image file anyway, even if you automate it,

as there are no DSLRs with a square sensor that I'm aware of.

 

Godfrey

[dg1]

As Godfrey mentions, you can get screens that will indicate square fraiming, Katzeye sells them. And you might consider a 4/3rds DSLR as well, which is much closer to square. AFAIK, only the Ricoh GX100, and Ricoh GRDII offer square framing, and the GRDII will also shoot square in RAW mode, but they are not DSLRs but 1/1.8" sensor digicams.

[Ed_Ingold]

You can install a grid screen in many cameras. If there are four divisions on the long axis, simply use only the middle two, which form a square. You can also use the focusing brackets on a Nikon to delimit the "square" format.

 

It doesn't pay to take any extraordinary measures, since you will quickly tire of this artifice. Hardly anyone actually prints "square" on a regular basis and you throw away 1/3rd of the available image area if you do so. You pay for all those pixels, so it makes sense to use them.

 

The whole idea of a square format is that you can compose to a vertical or horizontal format without turning the camera, which is tricky with a TLR or waist-level finder. With the large image area of MF, you can afford to throw away a lot of the image through cropping.

[joshroot]

<i>"The whole idea of a square format is that you can compose to a vertical or horizontal format without turning the camera, which is tricky with a TLR or waist-level finder. With the large image area of MF, you can afford to throw away a lot of the image through cropping."</i>

<p>

I think a lot of professionals viewed the square format that way, particularly wedding photographers who had prints to sell. But there are many photographers who simply like the look of a square image.

[Ed_Ingold]

When I shoot 6x6, I tend to think and compose in a square format. It has its charm and, much like exaggerated symmetry, is used to challenge the "norm". Even if "many" like the square format, they constitute a tiny fraction of photographers (and art lovers) at large. The "Golden Ratio" prevails in art and architecture, and has done so for centuries.

[godfrey]

<center>

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/ramarren/photo/PAW7/large/53b.jpg"><br>

Waiting - This Cafe Life 2007<br>

<i>©2007 by Godfrey DiGiorgi<br>

Panasonic DMC-L1 + Vario-Elmarit-D 14-50/2.8-3.5 ASPH OIS<br>

</i></center><br>

I like the feel of the square space. That was my intent on framing this photo.

<br><br>

Godfrey<br>