100% crop - What does it mean?

Lawrence

Senior Member
Michael I am just as confused as you so at first I was pleased you asked the question but now ….?
Well I am sorry you did as I am more confused than ever. :D
 

Michael J.

Senior Member
I am now just more confused.

DX format vs FX format: 01 Focal factors DX sensors capture a smaller field of view, so it makes it appear as if you’re shooting with a longer focal length lens. This is called the ‘crop factor’, and you need to multiply a lens’s actual focal length by 1.5 to get its effective focal length on a DX camera. DX format vs FX format: what you need to know about Nikon's sensor sizes | Digital Camera World

This mean my DX camera crops the photo and if I do it again I double crop it. So when I crop 100% it means my pics is actually more than 100% crop
 
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Vincent

Senior Member
Michael I am just as confused as you so at first I was pleased you asked the question but now ….?
Well I am sorry you did as I am more confused than ever. :D

I want to give my 5 cents, I looked into it a while ago.

1) 100% crop is a wrong term, so try to forget it.
2) What people do want to say with it is that they cropped the image. So what you do see is not the photo like it was originally framed, but they cut it up differently. That is the main point.
3) But why do you add 100%? In programs you can run programs that will change the number of pixels per inch, this will change the quality. In a 100% image this was not done, so you can judge what the qualtiy on the sensor was.
To clarify this last point:
Cropping will change the number of pixels on your file, but not the pixels per inch, so it normally keeps 100% of the quality of the picture taken.
You can go to less pixels per inch, this is general to control a smaller print, your picture might have more pixels then the printer can handle for the print size. You control your print better, but you loose quality.
You can go to more pixels per inch, to print a wall size for example, but the software will have to "guess" at the best way to add pixels to the image. This will obviously change the quality.

So when someone states 100% crop, you should ask: So you cropped it, but you did not change the quality of the image?

I understand that some people state you cropped it so it views on a screen in maximum quality, but then some are looking on their old smartphone and others on their 4K television, you can not size it for everyone. There are other factors then pixels per inch that determine quality (raw, TIFF and JPEG have different properties, etc...) ... I´m not good enough to link that in the story.

PS: I post almost everything cropped and with lower file sizes in jpg (lower Q).
 

aroy

Senior Member
What I mean by 100% crop, is
. The image was cropped - cut so that it is of a reasonable size and can be viewed in most monitors without scrolling.
. The 100% means it is not resampled, and each screen pixel shows one sensor pixel.

Normally 100% crop is used to show the full resolution of the sensor, in a manageable file size. If you have a 24MP sensor it will normally be 6000 x 4000 pixels (there are minor variation in sensors from different vendors). Now my monitor is 1920x1200 pixels and the full resolution image will be 1/3 width wise so I have to scroll to view each part.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
There you are Michael and Lawrence clear as mud :D right thermo nuclear fusion next please

I know what it means 100% crop but wouldn't like to explain it.
 

Eyelight

Senior Member
There has to be a bit more life in this dead horse. Lemme see if I can help.

100% crop

The word crop in this case is a noun that refers to an digital image. 100% is an adjective that refers to the digital image retaining the original pixels as recorded by the sensor. Crop loosely refers to the idea that the image being viewed is a smaller pixel dimension than the original image as recorded by the sensor. 100% refers to the pixel density of the image retaining 100% of the pixel density of the sensor that recorded the image.

100% crop = digital sensor pixel density equivalent image

This seems to be what most people think it means, but there are other ideas, which means the context of the usage may or may not tell us what it means to the person what just used it in a sentence.

My personal opinion is it's a poor choice of words to describe anything.
 

480sparky

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

1000 pixels is a decent size, but ANY number of pixels (within reason) will work. 400, 600, 800, 1200.
 

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
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...

Ding ding ding

Correct answer. Dan, tell us what our contestant has won today....
:)
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
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?

Yes, it is a crop and a rotation. The rotation is a little like a resample in that new pixels are created from an estimation of the old ones.

Next up:

Explain inverse square law. :cool:


Four Flash Photography Basics we must know - Inverse Square Law

And reciprocity failure.

Applied to film, does not apply to digital (so moot point)
 
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