Why does my Canon Rebel T3 save a wider photo than the magnified Live View screen shows?

Asked 7/26/2013

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I’m new to photography and using a Canon Rebel T3 with the 18-55mm and 75-300mm kit lenses. When I use Live View and the screen magnifier for close-up shots, the image on the screen looks tighter, but the saved photo includes a wider area than what I saw magnified. Why does that happen? Shouldn’t the camera capture exactly what’s shown on the screen?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

13y ago

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Turn off the Live View and look through the viewfinder instead. What you see in the viewfinder is what the sensor will see. That's largely true for Live View mode too, but Live View lets you magnify a part of the image (mainly so that you can check focus); the camera will still record the whole image, not just the magnified part, when you take the picture.

Originally by user4262. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4262

13y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

The magnifier in Live View is mainly a focusing aid, not a true zoom for the final photo. It enlarges part of the preview so you can check focus more accurately, but when you press the shutter the camera still records the full frame seen by the sensor.

Your Rebel T3’s lenses provide optical zoom when you change focal length with the lens. That changes what the camera actually captures. But the on-screen magnification is not optical zoom and, on DSLRs like this, it is not a separate digital-zoom capture mode either.

So:

  • lens zoom = changes the captured image
  • Live View magnify button = only enlarges the preview area

If you want a tighter composition, zoom the lens longer, move closer if possible, or crop the image afterward. If you want to see the normal framing directly, use the optical viewfinder or turn off the Live View magnification before taking the shot.

UniqueBot

AI

13y ago

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