Will a widescreen LCD stretch my pics?

[anesh]

<p>I've just ordered a new PC but not the LCD screen just yet. I'd like widescreen but the technician said that any photo would be forced to stretch and I should consider a normal 4:3 LCD screen instead. Is this true? My graphics card is a NVidia Geforce gtx260 (black edition).</p>

[rainer_t]

<p>-- "that any photo would be forced to stretch"</p>

<p>nonsense. If the screen itself has for example a width-heigth ratio of 16:9, the ratio of the pixelresolution is also 16:9 ... 1920 : 1080 for example. So a 4:3 image (or a 3:2 image) displayed on a widescreen display will remain in its original ratio, but you have unused black areas on the sides of the image.</p><div></div>

[swilson]

<p>I use a wide screen with no problems, as Rainer points out the phot will simply have blank areas when displayed.</p>

<p>I am set up with two monitors, one running 1024x1280 and the other 1200x1920. The 1200x1920 is not too far off from the 2:3 aspect ratio of my camera, so the photo show up as 1200x1800.</p>

<p>

<p>I shoot a fair number of panoramic shots and so the wide screen is very nice for them.</p>

</p>

 

[peterbcarter]

<blockquote>

<p>technician said that any photo would be forced to stretch and I should consider a normal 4:3 LCD screen instead...</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The tech was not a photographer. Yes aspect ratio unaware programs (like windows screen saver, and display background, browsers....) will muck up your visuals. He was right for what he knew. However pretty much everything that you would need to use in photography would be aware of the aspect ratios and display accordingly.</p>

<p>Lesson to learn: You shouldn't ask the guy in the garage to set up your satellite dish, and that tech guy in the store shouldn't be expected to know much about anything except how to replace your hard drive or clean out a virus. Beyond that, you run the risk of being led astray....</p>

 

[patricklavoie]

<p>no (another stupid comment from a stupid underpaid salemans) your image wont strecth if you select the correct pixel ratio and if your video card can support this native pixel resolution. I didtn see many good 4:3 ratio for a long time, i mean really good as expensive. All good monitor or highend monitor come at least (maybe only) in a widescreen ratio.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>All computer monitors default to square pixels, regardless of the overall aspect ratio. Digital images and Photoshop do likewise. Consequently images are not distorted unless you do so deliberately. Television pixels are non-square by default - 4:3 video has an aspect ratio of 0.9 (taller than wide) and 16:9 video pixels are 1.2. While this must be addressed when editing video (menus and such) in Photoshop, DVD players automatically convert still images for display, as do sets shich have an XVGA adapter.</p>