shooting photos in 16x9

[Buzzard]

I know there's some camera buffs here so maybe you could offer some advice.

Buzz's wife and I are about to hit the road for holidays next weekend, and we want to to take lots of quality pics. I've got a nice new digital camera that I'm trying to get familiar before we go. It has the ability to take shots in 16x9, 4x3, and classic 3x2. I'm assuming the widescreen options would be suitable for outdoor scenery, expansive shots, etc. Is it strictly a preference option? What aspect settings would you use and when? Thanks for the help!

[RW99]

I'm no photog, but it would seem to me it comes down to resolution. If the 4x3 is say 1600x1200 and then when you go 16x9 it is 1600x800 then it's of no real use. You can always crop the 4x3.

[SebC]

Yeah RW99 is typically right. Your camera's snesor has a native resolution, which is one of those modes (usually 4:3). The rest are just crops.

16x9 - fits on HDTVs perfectly
4:3 - fits on old-school (non-widescreen) monitors perfectly
3:2 - old-school film ratio. Digital prints often use this ratio too.

Basically, it depends on:
a) the shot
b) what you want to display it on

And you can always crop from one to the other assuming you're not using a really small resolution, which is exactly what your camera would be doing anyways. Also, you can always frame your shot as a 16x9 or 3x2 to know what it would look like cropped, then shoot as a 4x3. Or take both: the joy of digital is you're never wasting film!

[BuzzardsWife]

Got it. Thanks guys.