There is no truly standard size for photographic prints, but there are many standard paper sizes.
The DIN A4 size (and associates) is an official standard (DIN 476 or ISO 216 to be precise). A customer asks for a 26" x 26" framed version of one of my images (vs my 24 x 24 version of the original), or an 18" x 27" (vs my 20 x 30 original) to fill a particular space in her home, that's what she gets. My "walls" are not limited to what I can hang in my own home. Sure, there is a limitation to how wide canvas comes on a roll, but within that, canvas can be stretched onto any size frame needed. My prints have ranged from 6" x 6" up to 44" x 100" (which was a real treat to frame).Īrtists who paint have no standard sizes. But the 24" and 44" printers at the commercial print shops I use literally mean an infinity of print sizes (within the limits of resolution of my originals). I make proofs on a 13 x 19 printer at home. That limitation doesn't really exist anymore (with inkjet printing). I have no doubt making other sizes would have been prohibitively expensive, then. The dominance of standard sizes appears to have been nothing other than the limitation of what was made available by Kodak or Ilford or Agfa, or who ever was manufacturing silver-gelatin-coated photographic paper. But I have never understood that expectation of "standard" sizes and I have been doing this since the 1950s. That's the way it is for most photographers. I make a new print roughly once a week so it is rare for one of my prints to be displaced more than a couple of months. Depending on the size, I have room for only 6-8 prints on my walls. Occasionally I will cut a unique mat but I really hate to deal with single use frame sizes. I have dozens of mats and frames already setup for 12x18 or 16x24 prints. My print sizes and shapes tend to be dictated by the subject matter and the intended display environment and are rectangular or square, and just about any size I want them to be. I print on 24" or 44" wide roll paper and I make all my own frames and mats. Personally, I don't adhere to any "standard" print sizes. Ink jet photo paper can also be had in 8" x 10" size. (Which passed the commercial printing industry world-wide in total ink production sometime in the late 1990s). Inkjet paper manufacturers just followed that lead in supplying all kinds of paper stock for the ink jet world.
There are a few other standard paper sizes in the commercial printing industry but 8.5 x 11 is the one that percolated down as the business office standard almost a century ago. Simply because the laser and inkjet printer industry started to serve the business office where (in the United States) 8.5" x 11" is a standard size.Ĩ.5 x 11 comes from dividing an 11" x 17" sheet, which itself comes from dividing a 17" x 22" sheet which is a standard size in the United States commercial printing industry.
Is there a reason why 8.5x11 photo paper exist when the standard picture size is 8x10? The only reason that I can think of is to use it for collage printing, but then what would all of the sizes be to make them all fit on a full sheet? In Europe and Japan I'm sure other sizes are common.
You will notice that there is also A4 paper (about 8.3x11.7 inches), a metric size common elsewhere. and probably to a somewhat lesser degree other English-speaking countries.
Third, 8.5x11 inches is IMO noticeably larger than 8x10 inches, and also has an aspect ratio more similar to nearly all cameras compared to 8x10, so it's a better choice for those reasons, yet still fits in printers whose mechanisms are designed for standard text pages.įourth, 8x10 inches is not "the standard picture size". Second, 8.5x11 inches is the same as U.S.-standard letter paper, so prints that size stack well with, fit well into boxes with, etc. You can cut it down with scissors or a paper cutter if you want. So printing an 8x10 image on 8.5x11 inch paper seems like a prudent precaution. Is there a reason why 8.5x11 photo paper exist when the standard picture size is 8x10?įirst, an inkjet printing borderless often sprays a bit of ink into its guts-not the best situation.