Why 6 x 9?

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tramp92

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Dan
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It seems that one of the most popular size for event type photos is 6x9. I appreciate that it is a 2:3 ratio so makes printing easy with no cropping needed. However, when you come to find ready made mass produced frames as stocked in larger supermarkets, department stores etc, they do not seem to be readily available.

Does anyone have a clue why the 6 x 9 is a popular printer size?
 
Decent size, not too big not too small, but no cropping needed - just straight out of camera, and out of the dye sub.
 
Dave, it can only be a matter of time before someone has the sense to start mass producing 6x9 frames, given the fact that with so many print solutions capable of doing a 6x9 size. Any retail solution, wether it be a photo kiosk or dry lab solution with a Mitsubishi, Fuji ( Copal), DNP or Shinko printer in it will do this.

Somewhere there is an entrepeneur asleep on the job.

Wake up!!
 
All the "standard" frame sizes hark back to old glass plate sizes - except for 6x4

10x8 was a film size. 8x6 is almost - 8.5x6.5 was called "whole plate" and was only changed to 8x6 when colour paper came out in rolls - as 8" paper allowed 10x8 and 8x6 on the same paper - then 8x8 became popular as the common problem was the prints were made from 6x6cm negatives....

Are the frame sizes popular because thats the size prints are - or are prints that size because you get frames for them!

You can find frames for 8x12 now - and most A4 will take them too - but 6x9 are seldom seen - almost as rare as 4x5!

I deal with a local framer - and he makes me frames any size I want....
 
Now, if you are going toget a history lessonin photo processing history ,you couldn't get it from a better man than David Clark!

Very interesting David, thanks.
 
But if your doing events, surely you have your own custom branded photo mounts ;)
 
As itsdavedotnet says. the answer is simply that Event Photograhers want a straight out of camera and print solution.

Pretty much most dyesubs that print 9x6 will also print 8x6, which is historically a much more common size and easier to find frames for.

Some years ago a attended a seminar by Doug Gordon. He was editing some photos that he'd just shot, live on a screen, most of which were odd sizes... 2x5, 3x8 etc.

Someone in the audience asked why he cropped photos to those ratios when frames weren't commercially available for those sizes.

He replied.. " 'We have 2x5 frames made especially for us, and last year we sold $400,000 of them 'cos they cant be bought anywhere else."
 
Interesting thread. Can you buy 6x9 paper?
 
Captain Morgan said:
6x9 Frames - Seek and ye shall find.

Ask your supplier for A4 frames with a 6x9 matt????
Click to expand...

Good point Cap'n. It 's something that has always bugged me, why should the frame size govern the situation. Like you say, utilise a bigger frame and put a mount in to size. Job done.
 
I print photographs from Lightroom and it automatically chops off the thin strips that don't fit on the edges of 8x6 paper.

IMHO, unless you want to supply frames, it's not producing a product with the end-user in mind. Printing 9x6 or 12x8 because it's easy and matches the cameras sensor ratio doesn't make much sense when I have people saying to me 'I love that photograph but it's still in a drawer because I just can't find a frame for it!'.
 
we have a few photos from alton towers/london dungeons/thorpe park etc which are still in a bag for this reason. I am going to have to scan, crop and reprint unless I want to spend a small fortune at a framing place....very frustrating!
 
Digital_Clarity said:
I print photographs from Lightroom and it automatically chops off the thin strips that don't fit on the edges of 8x6 paper.

IMHO, unless you want to supply frames, it's not producing a product with the end-user in mind. Printing 9x6 or 12x8 because it's easy and matches the cameras sensor ratio doesn't make much sense when I have people saying to me 'I love that photograph but it's still in a drawer because I just can't find a frame for it!'.
Click to expand...

If you dont want to sell frames you may have a point, but why not offer frames and make more money. Who wants to sell loose prints other than at an event????
 
try "Picturelizard" or something similar - they will cut any size hole in A4 mountboard, and pretty cheaply compared to high street art shops.
 
I have a framers who make me 12x8 mounts with 9x6 apertures then self adheisive backboard and into a standard A4 frame and jobs a good un
 
Some very good suggestions about going to a framers for custom mounts instead of frames. I know what I might be doing this weekend.....other than kicking myself for not thinking of it myself
 
If you dont want to sell frames you may have a point, but why not offer frames and make more money. Who wants to sell loose prints other than at an event????
Click to expand...
That's a good point, but look at my signature! :D
 
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Hysteria_UK said:
we have a few photos from alton towers/london dungeons/thorpe park etc which are still in a bag for this reason. I am going to have to scan, crop and reprint unless I want to spend a small fortune at a framing place....very frustrating!
Click to expand...

All these are part of Merlin Entertainments, and they are running Mitsubishi printers ( CP9550DW's I think) , check the back of the print , it should say mitsubishi .
 
This thread stemmed from the fact that my other half and I were thrashing minis around Goodwood on one of the experience days. The usual photos were on offer, which we bought. They come in the a cardboard mount with the company's name on. I wanted to do away with the mount and have them in a simple frame as with the other prints in the room we use as an office. Can I find them off the shelf? No.

So what possessed Dye Sub manufactures to use 6x9?
 
It's really the digital camera/sensor/electronics manufacturers who went with a ratio of 2:3 for the image dimensions. Perhaps this is a relic of 35mm film? I'm not entirely sure...

So 6X4, 9x6 and 12x8 work nicely, with the dye-sub manufacturers following suit; it seems the frame manufacturers are yet to cotton on though!
 
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