Question: How much can I crop?

[Jeff A]

So my Wife and I got out to a park today to take some photos with my new A73. Being a Newbie, you probably won't be shocked when I tell you I don't have enough lens to shoot ducks at my feet! When I got home I ran my shots through Lightroom. Man, it already sucks not to have a good telephoto lens, but for now I won't sell my car or mortgage the house. My Wife thinks I should go to work with the Crop Tool big time, but the question is, how many pixels should you be willing to give up??

I'm pretty sure any photography I will do will be for viewing on a monitor, or worse. My present monitor runs at 3840 x 2160, and I think that not that many people have 4 K monitors. I forsee no printing of photos in the future but that could possibly change. So the question is, how much cropping can you do before your image quality suffers to those viewing it? Do you all have any Rules of Thumb regarding Cropping? Your thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.

 

[Ralph]

I don't know much about all things to deal with this and I will say that I always do things to what I like.
After all I am the one I have to please in the long run. But if you are planning on selling some then maybe
you need to talk to them and run through it all.
But many times what you like is what others will like also and a few you will never be able to please.

 

[Ziggy]

Yes , suck it and see.

A lot depends on the sharpness of the image. Start off with a lot of noise or softness and you have little to work with.

 

[Ziggy]

And the Sony 200-600 doesn't exactly require a 2nd mortgage.

 

[garuda]

Jeff, I use sony fe 70-300G ($1200 Amazon) as my backup for my 200-600G f4.5 ($2K). A bit cheaper, in parting with only your motorcycle instead of car. Just a suggestion.

P.S. -- 70-300 barrel fits in a phone booth, but not the 200-600.

 

[Jeff A]

Jeff, I use sony fe 70-300G ($1200 Amazon) as my backup for my 200-600G f4.5 ($2K). A bit cheaper, in parting with only your motorcycle instead of car. Just a suggestion.

P.S. -- 70-300 barrel fits in a phone booth, but not the 200-600.

I think that is a smart idea. I already sold both bikes anyway! BTW, what is a phone booth?

 

[garuda]

I think that is a smart idea. I already sold both bikes anyway! BTW, what is a phone booth?

Sorry, phone booth is not some acronym for brevity or tech code -- as is often done on this forum. Instead it was but another desperate failed attempt at humor. ie. If you were ever shooting from a phone booth (which is never), the 200-600 wouldn't fit; a corny exaggeration of its barrel length vs. 70-300.

I'm not trying to be cute; rather in my advanced years, I simply don't take life too serious. Sincere yes, but not serious. Plus there's too much ugliness in world today, so light heartedness is part of my cardio workout. I just wish for your sake I was better at my humor attempts.

 

[Jeff A]

Sorry, phone booth is not some acronym for brevity or tech code -- as is often done on this forum. Instead it was but another desperate failed attempt at humor. ie. If you were ever shooting from a phone booth (which is never), the 200-600 wouldn't fit; a corny exaggeration of its barrel length vs. 70-300.

I'm not trying to be cute; rather in my advanced years, I simply don't take life too serious. Sincere yes, but not serious. Plus there's too much ugliness in world today, so light heartedness is part of my cardio workout. I just wish for your sake I was better at my humor attempts.

I got the Humor, we need more humor in our lives. My return comment was meant to be funny. After all, phone booths are mostly disappearing. Of course, mu eye sight isn't what it used to be.

 

[garuda]

I got the Humor, we need more humor in our lives. My return comment was meant to be funny. After all, phone booths are mostly disappearing. Of course, mu eye sight isn't what it used to be.

Ahhh... you got me on that one. I should have catch that. I need new batteries in my humor detector.

 

[Killzen]

I have an adapter (bought on Amazon) that allows me to use all my Nikon F mount lenses with the Sony A6400 E mount camera. No auto control, but hey, I cut my teeth on manual mode....point bwing, you can probably pick up the adapter and an old Nikon telephoto for under $200 and experiment with that

 

[Jeff A]

I have an adapter (bought on Amazon) that allows me to use all my Nikon F mount lenses with the Sony A6400 E mount camera. No auto control, but hey, I cut my teeth on manual mode....point bwing, you can probably pick up the adapter and an old Nikon telephoto for under $200 and experiment with that

Great idea. Will take a look. Thank you.

 

[Exploridaho]

For your plans I would think original image quality will dictate how far you could zoom and crop.
Using a tripod when appropriate can help in achieving a sharper image so start with over handheld shots
If you dont plan on selling the images, or blowing them up significantly, I`d just use your own judgment on each image.
If you get a good pinsharp shot you can crop it further than you could if the image is soft to begin with.
if the pic looks good to you on your monitor then go for it, obviously if you plan on entering pics in a contest, of selling images then thats a different story.
Worth noting cameras with higher resolution like the A7R4 will allow you to crop further without pixelating you image as much

 

[Jeff A]

For your plans I would think original image quality will dictate how far you could zoom and crop.
Using a tripod when appropriate can help in achieving a sharper image so start with over handheld shots
If you dont plan on selling the images, or blowing them up significantly, I`d just use your own judgment on each image.
If you get a good pinsharp shot you can crop it further than you could if the image is soft to begin with.
if the pic looks good to you on your monitor then go for it, obviously if you plan on entering pics in a contest, of selling images then thats a different story.
Worth noting cameras with higher resolution like the A7R4 will allow you to crop further without pixelating you image as much

Since I originally posted this question, I have been looking at some really good photos taken by our Members. I have found that there are more crops than not. I was so freaked out about loosing resolution by cropping it was distracting.. I have a lot to learn and this is just one area. That doesnt mean that I don't want a 600mm lens.