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What is "100% crop"?

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pbromaghin

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I see this all the time. What the hell does it mean?
 
The 100% part is about how the crop is displayed. It means that every pixel you see on your screen corresponds to a pixel in the original image, without any stretching (upsampling) or shrinking (downsampling). Strictly speaking the term is more generic than photography, it's a common way to describe how to share a small portion of a digital image online without distorting the information in it.
 
A term from someone who does not know what they are talking about since literally a 100% crop would mean not using the negative at all. On the order of "Circle the wagons in the harbor before the train leaves the station."
 
Say I have an image file that is 6000x8000 pixels that I resize to 600x800 for sharing. That creates a view of the entire frame at a 10% crop:

2254_sm.jpg

If I take the same image and simply crop out a 600x800 piece without resizing, that represents a 100% crop.

2254_sm_100.jpg

As @Steven Lee mentioned, the 'original' pixel data doesn't have any scaling applied to it.

(Kodak 2254 w/ double 85B filtration, ECN-2)
 
Pieter12 said:
I guess I should have looked it up (and so should the OP). It's digital double-speak.
Click to expand...

Well...
Assuming you are viewing something digitally, it is a perfectly usable phrase, although too abbreviated to be transparent in meaning for those who aren't working with digital images regularly.
It relates to looking really closely at the detail in the image - aka "pixel peeping".
There probably is a matching phrase for an analogue version - you know "I used a 10X loupe to examine a 1/4" x 3/8" portion" of the slide."
 
Sirius Glass said:
A term from someone who does not know what they are talking about since literally a 100% crop would mean not using the negative at all. On the order of "Circle the wagons in the harbor before the train leaves the station."
Click to expand...
Agreed. I was taught that to crop a photo was to mask off some of the edge and thus reduce the size and/or alter the shape of the image. To use the term to describe downsampling of the internal parts of the image is to misuse it.
 
Sirius Glass said:
A term from someone who does not know what they are talking about since literally a 100% crop would mean not using the negative at all. On the order of "Circle the wagons in the harbor before the train leaves the station."
Click to expand...

Aww... Taking every opportunity to elevate your own imaginary superiority over mythical someone "who doesn't know"? I would pay to watch you interact with people in real life. :smile:
 
Steven Lee said:
Aww... Taking every opportunity to elevate your own imaginary superiority over mythical someone "who doesn't know"? I would pay to watch you interact with people in real life. :smile:
Click to expand...

Nothing to do with your myth. Just follow the definition of the term. Your cattiness is showing, you need to retract your claws.
 
Last edited:
Dang -- they don't use terminology the way we think and want them to think...lazy bastards.
 
The real problem is the frame of reference - which in this nomenclature is the window in the screen you are using.
100% crop is shorthand to say that the file is cropped so as to fill the screen without any resizing - the portion you see is displayed at 100% of its native resolution.
Sort of like a wallet sized contact print (i.e. a 100% reproduction) of a portion (crop) of an 8x10 negative.
The folks who are resistant to this idea aren't used to thinking of it that way.
 
It's a contradiction in terms, isn't it? To crop the photo or negative means to cut part of the image off. You might due this due to compositional reasons, or to remove the ex wife from your photos :smile:

Given that definition, a 100% crop is like having 100% of nothing, because there has been no cropping? That makes no sense at all.
 
momus said:
Given that definition, a 100% crop is like having 100% of nothing, because there has been no cropping? That makes no sense at all.
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't*. But OP wanted to know what the hell that means when it's used like that. And the proper explanation was given.

And, of course, wrong ones, too (this is Photrio after all)...


* when you read it like that; if you read it like "100% (no resampling), but cropped (so it fits the screen (without scrolling left/right/up/down) a regular Joe on internet is using)" it does make sense
 
Bronson Dugnutt said:
Say I have an image file that is 6000x8000 pixels that I resize to 600x800 for sharing. That creates a view of the entire frame at a 10% crop:

View attachment 311669

If I take the same image and simply crop out a 600x800 piece without resizing, that represents a 100% crop.

View attachment 311670

As @Steven Lee mentioned, the 'original' pixel data doesn't have any scaling applied to it.

(Kodak 2254 w/ double 85B filtration, ECN-2)
Click to expand...

This is the correct definition of 100% crop as I've learned it. It's used when you sharpen an image in an editing program. You enlarge the picture on your monitor in a one-for-one pixel relationship similar to your second picture. Then you sharpen it.

The amount shown will differ depending upon the pixel resolution of the original image versus the native resolution of your monitor. But in all cases, there will be a one for one relationship on a pixel by pixel basis.
 
MattKing said:
The real problem is the frame of reference - which in this nomenclature is the window in the screen you are using.
100% crop is shorthand to say that the file is cropped so as to fill the screen without any resizing - the portion you see is displayed at 100% of its native resolution.
Sort of like a wallet sized contact print (i.e. a 100% reproduction) of a portion (crop) of an 8x10 negative.
The folks who are resistant to this idea aren't used to thinking of it that way.
Click to expand...

It's more important to understand each other than whether the terminology is correct. I always understood when someone said 100% crop.
 
nmp said:
Only on Photrio, you can take a simple concept and beat it to death.
Click to expand...
And thank you for your contribution to the beating!

The sun never rises nor sets, but we know what people mean when they use the terms...
 
Vaughn said:
The sun never rises nor sets, but we know what people mean when they use the terms...
Click to expand...

Does this mean that the sun doesn't rotate around the world after all???!!!!!!😆
 
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