Purely by accident last year I discovered something very nice about
4/3rds. I made a boo-boo ordering some frames from American Frame
after that worthy company began offering a free mat with every frame.
When I gave them the spec for the free mat, it changed the actual
size of the frame from 11x14 frame to 11x14 mat opening. I didn't
notice. Thus the frame became 15x18. As they were custom cut, I
couldn't send them back, so I fired up CS2 and picked an image to
crop to the size I'd need to use those frames. I floated a 9.75x13
image inside an 11x14 mat opening, and it turned out that the
aforementioned 9.75x13 is exactly full-frame with a native E-1 image.
(The 9.75x13 gives a half-inch top and sides, and 3/4-inch at the
bottom for signing, etc.) And Photoshops Bicubic Smoother does an
excellent job with that size, meaning no Genuine Fractal involvement.
I liked the 15x18 product so much I've incorporated it into my
offerings now, and as it turns out, my customers like it, too. I've
sold a nice handful since discovering the size late last year, and
already this season have sold another. (They go for $99 in most
venues.) The one complaint I've had is that I don't offer them in
unframed, and that's because I can't get mass-produced plastic bags
to hold them. I've considered folding over 16x20 nags, but that's
kinda sloppy. If I could get the bags, I might drop the 16x20 line in
the cooperatives altogether in favor of the slightly smaller, thus
less expensive and yet full-framed size.
But then if I abandon the E-line, I'll be back to a more "normal" crop.
Sigh.
--Bob Whitmire
www.bobwhitmire.com
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