100% crop - What does it mean?

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Pretzel

Senior Member
I use it to mean this = in LightRoom, the image is set to "fill screen" by default, but you can zoom in until it's 1:1 and you're only seeing a portion of the pic, but at actual size. When I crop to 100%, I crop it to the point that the cropped image perfectly fits the screen. It's an attempt to get this (found on the internet) 100% crop = 1 to 1 pixel mapping on your screen.

Of course, different screens have different layouts, and then when uploading here, the file is compressed, but hope that helps?
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
I think it when you enlarge your photo to 100% in Photoshop or whatever software you are using then take a crop of the image.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
If your camera makes a 12 or 24 megapixel image, then it is a few thousand pixels wide, and you (or an automated something) has to resample it much smaller to show it on a video screen. Because screens are not that big. What is shown is several pixels resampled into one pixel. NOT Actual digital image view. NOT the actual original image pixels.

A 100% crop is a relatively small crop, specifically that is small enough that a video screen can show it at 100% size (called Actual size). Specifically it is NOT resampled at all in any way. It shows one image pixel directly on one video pixel. It shows actual image pixels. It is called 100% because it is the 100% video view.

The third image here is a 100% crop:

crop.jpg



Click it to enlarge it. Adobe says 100% actual size in bottom left corner of third one.

This third image is about 700x700 pixels of the original D800 36 megapixels.
 
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Michael J.

Michael J.

Senior Member
Many answers many thinks to think about. Thanks guys I have to find the answer which is to me not confused. I am looking forward to further answers.
 
B

Blacktop

Senior Member
WayneF said:
If your camera makes a 12 or 24 megapixel image, then it is a few thousand pixels wide, and you (or an automated something) has to resample it much smaller to show it on a video screen. Because screens are not that big. What is shown is several pixels resampled into one pixel. Not Actual digital image view.

A 100% crop is a relatively small crop, specifically that is small enough that a video screen can show it at 100% size (called Actual size). Specifically it is NOT resampled at all in any way. It shows one image pixel directly on one video pixel. It shows actual image pixels. It is called 100% because it is the 100% video view.
Click to expand...

So if you have a 12MP image, and you crop it 100%, then how many MP's are you ending up with?
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
Blacktop said:
So if you have a 12MP image, and you crop it 100%, then how many MP's are you ending up with?
Click to expand...

Not answerable. It depends on your crop size. If you crop it tiny, to be 3x3 pixels, then it is 9 pixels. Or 400x400 pixels is 160,000 pixels.

The point is that a 100% crop is small enough that video screens can show it at 100% Actual size, without any resample whatsoever. Specifically, it shows actual real original pixels, with no resample.
 
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B

Blacktop

Senior Member
WayneF said:
Not answerable. It depends on your crop size. If you crop it tiny, to be 3x3 pixels, then it is 9 pixels. Or 400x400 pixels is 160,000 pixels.

The point is that a 100% crop is small enough that video screens can show it at 100% Actual size, without any resample whatsoever.
Click to expand...

I think I'm starting to understand.
 
Browncoat

Browncoat

Senior Member
Forget about the wording "100% crop". I think that is what's throwing you off. Think of it as "actual size".

When you open an image in a program, the default view is to see the entire image, regardless of your monitor size or the resolution of the image. This default view might be 50% or 67% or whatever it ends up being. This is so you can see the entire thing on your screen.

If you zoom to 1:1 or 100%, the frame of the image doesn't change, but your are now only viewing a portion. That is referred to as the 100% crop.

It works the same with documents in MS Word or other document viewers. You can view the entire page (at a reduced size) or 100%, which zooms in to just a few lines.
 
D

Don Kondra

Senior Member
It is a bit difficult to explain with words :)

Say you are shooting a D7100, your image size is 6000 x 4000.

Most web sites recommend you resize your images to 1000 (x 667) on the wide side.

So if you cropped an area 1000 wide from the original image that would be a 100 % crop and does not need to be resized to display.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Cheers, Don
 

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Michael J.

Michael J.

Senior Member
I am impressed how many nikonites know the 100% crop. It seems that only me was a bit confused. But I get a better understanding about crop and resize. One question remains for me: If I use LR or other Photo editing program and I straighten a photo, actually I will cut of some parts of the pic (corner). Is this a crop too?
 
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480sparky

Senior Member
My explanation of "100% crop" is the image is displayed on the monitor such that one pixel of the image takes up one pixel of the monitor.

siamthai1 said:
..........If I use LR or other Photo editing program and I straighten a photo, actually I will cut of some parts of the pic (corner). Is this a crop too?
Click to expand...


Yes.
 
D

Don Kondra

Senior Member
The easy answer is most sites will display an image 1000 wide without downsizing it.

Little more complicated, some sites will downsize anything larger and some will display it as is but you will have to scroll sideways to view it.

More complicated, it depends on what size monitor you are using :)

Basically a 100% crop needs to be displayed full size.

Cheers, Don
 
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