Shooting Aspect Ratio?

[Daytonj6]

My question today is about shooting in Aspect Ratio of 3:2 or 16:9.
(Please move if this is not the place).


I have a Sony a200, and in the MENU right there is an option to shoot under either ratio.
I just installed the Sony Application Software, to see what it offers, and It has a RAW converter and all. Seeing how iPhoto does not cope with RAW I am going to try this software out and see how much better RAW is then JPEG.

But I do not at all, nor can I find information on what aspect ratio is.

Also, when I am in RAW shooting mode, the "IMAGE SIZE" is not applicable.
What is the deal with that?


Any help is appreciated, Thank you

Dayto

[Nicole]

You might start by reading this article which talks about aspect ratios: Basics of Digital Camera Pixels

If you scroll down just past the half way point in that article, you should see a graphical representation of how aspect ratios work.

And my guess for why "image size" isn't available in RAW is because it's the untouched image data. It's not reducing it's quality or size because you don't want the camera to do anything with it. I'm not sure if any cameras let you change image size when you're shooting RAW (though I don't know). I do know that mine doesn't.

[OsmosisStudios]

When you shoot in 16:9, the camera is cropping the top and bottom off the image to give you the wide look. When you shoot RAW the camera saves the entire data set, which is the full sensor, or a 2:3 ratio.