auto cropping

[tnargs]

Hi, bit of a newbie question.

DSLR viewfinders usually show a few percent less than 100 of the area recorded on the sensor. I want to have all my sensor images post-processed by cropping them to trim off the area I cannot see in the viewfinder.

Is there an automated function on common software that I can use to trim off the unwanted area from every image?

[milt]

Is there an automated function on common software that I can use to trim off the unwanted area from every image?

No, at least I have never heard of such a function.  I think I am in the majority when I say that most photographers will (1) understand what their cameras do and shoot accordingly, and (2) once in post processing, crop according to artistic demands of the shot you in fact have.

--Milt--

[feppe]

You could put your camera on a tripod and take a picture of a wall, mark the edges of the viewfinder image on the wall with the help of an assistant, and apply this as a crop in Lightroom or PS.

Also, you can get cameras with 100% image. Having 100% viewfinder image is a premium feature for some inexplicable reason. I think it's because it's increasingly more difficult for camera manufacturers to differentiate their products, although I've heard some claim a 100% viewfinder is technically difficult to make due to small tolerances involved.

In the end, I wouldn't worry about it. FWIW, I treat the extra 3% or so of space as safety margin

[tnargs]

Thanks guys. If there is no obvious solution I will continue to do what I do - which is just as you do!

Yes, 100% image is a premium feature and always has been - that's why I don't have it  

However, it is a premium feature that I have gotten used to by owning a P&S with LCD.

[wolfnowl]

There's no way to do it automatically, but you could do it semi-automatically in Lightroom.  The hard part would be figuring out what amount to crop off, but you could figure this out by shooting a piece of graph paper or something similar taped to a wall.  

Open this image in LR's Develop module, and crop it appropriately.  Holding down the Alt key while dragging a corner tab will crop all four corners equally.  Otherwise you could unlock the aspect ratio and crop freely.  Keep that as a reference image.  

Now in Grid view Ctrl/Cmd or Shift-select on every other image you want to crop to the same dimensions, setting the reference image as the 'most selected'.  Go back to Develop, select 'Sync', uncheck all and then check Crop/ Aspect Ratio only.  Click Synchronize and every image will now be cropped to the same dimensions as the reference image.  If you have portrait/landscape images, you could create two smart collections, filtered by aspect ratio and do them separately.

Mike.

P.S. Pressing the 'S' key in Develop will crop the current image to the same as the previously developed image.

[EduPerez]

If understood the problem, you are just trying to crop a fixed space out of each photograph, aren't you?
In that case any "scriptable" software should do the trick; ImageMagic or Phatch are the first that came to my mind.

[Ben Rubinstein]

There's no way to do it automatically, but you could do it semi-automatically in Lightroom.  The hard part would be figuring out what amount to crop off, but you could figure this out by shooting a piece of graph paper or something similar taped to a wall.  

Open this image in LR's Develop module, and crop it appropriately.  Holding down the Alt key while dragging a corner tab will crop all four corners equally.  Otherwise you could unlock the aspect ratio and crop freely.  Keep that as a reference image.  

Now in Grid view Ctrl/Cmd or Shift-select on every other image you want to crop to the same dimensions, setting the reference image as the 'most selected'.  Go back to Develop, select 'Sync', uncheck all and then check Crop/ Aspect Ratio only.  Click Synchronize and every image will now be cropped to the same dimensions as the reference image.  If you have portrait/landscape images, you could create two smart collections, filtered by aspect ratio and do them separately.

Mike.

P.S. Pressing the 'S' key in Develop will crop the current image to the same as the previously developed image.

Or just save it as a preset and apply it on import...

[wolfnowl]

I thought about that, but I couldn't see anywhere to create a preset of the Crop function.

Mike.

[attachment=22063:Preset.png]