[mdram]

I'm not a photographer by any means but would like to take nice photos on my 950. So far I've been playing with the different size and format settings but was wondering what the best ones would be (eg., 16:9 vs. 4:3, JPG vs. JPG/RAW)?

[xandros9]

I'm not a photographer by any means but would like to take nice photos on my 950. So far I've been playing with the different size and format settings but was wondering what the best ones would be (eg., 16:9 vs. 4:3, JPG vs. JPG/RAW)?

It's all personal preference and what you know you need.

RAW is only used by more advanced photographers as it has more information for photo editing tools (like Photoshop, not a filter or anything like Instagram) to play with.

Aspect ratio depends on what you prefer. I like the wider photos of 16:9 but I can make do in other settings.

Guytronic made an excellent guide. http://forums.windowscentral.com/gui...Bguide%5D.html
It applies to Windows Phone 8 phones but it still has good information!

[RumoredNow]

I'm going to reprint part of a post I made on a very similar topic in the 950 XL forum...


2. Personally, I almost always shoot 16:9.

• Camera gets 5MP jpg + 16MP dng (Lumia 1520)
• If I want a quick point and shoot I use Camera360 Sight and capture 16MP jpg
• If I want to compose a shot and capture a High Res jpg I use ProShot Classic or ProShot
• If I know I want to do post shot processing on my laptop I go with Camera and the 16MP dng file

3. I love the filters in Camera360 Sight and it does a decent job editing basics. Rawer on the phone will edit dng to jpg and do a good job, but as you say it downscales the resolution. BLACK has some lovely effects for B&W conversion. Sketch Camera can do some nice effects Vinci is great. Hyperlapse and Slowly for video effects...

Lately I have been using a two stage method on PC to edit dng. Fotor on desktop can convert dng to jpg at 100% and then I edit the result in Polarr Pro. Here's an early example from my first experiments with this approach: Pictures & Videos Taken With My Lumia 1520

IMHO, if you are shooting 16MP or higher, it doesn't hurt if you have to crop later and the results should still be very usable. I'd rather have the wider field to start rather than a couple MP more on a narrower pic.

[mdram]

Thanks! These are really helpful.

[P4geD0wn]

Personally I use 16MP (16:9) jpeg setting on my 950. No raw since it only takes up a lot of space and I never edit photos in any big way on PC that require raw format. I use 16MP over 5Mp because I like the extra detail on 16MP photos vs 5MP photos.

[Matty]

I'm not a photographer by any means but would like to take nice photos on my 950. So far I've been playing with the different size and format settings but was wondering what the best ones would be (eg., 16:9 vs. 4:3, JPG vs. JPG/RAW)?

I guess I'm a little different, i always prefer taking 4:3 images. Many people view their photos when their phone is in portrait mode. This allows them to simply view the photo and not have to turn their phone sideways. The 16:9 ration is great for Desktop wallpapers or Banner photos on Facebook.

[mattiasnyc]

I guess I'm a little different, i always prefer taking 4:3 images. Many people view their photos when their phone is in portrait mode. This allows them to simply view the photo and not have to turn their phone sideways.

To me that doesn't really make that much difference. I know it looks a bit bigger but really it's just giving more "top and bottom". Having said that though I think I might start taking more 4:3 photos for different reasons...

The 16:9 ration is great for Desktop wallpapers or Banner photos on Facebook.

I think this is where 4:3 actually is a good option, because it captures a bigger image that one can then crop manually which gives more options after the photo has been taken. If one is inclined to edit afterwards that is.