Paper Sizes

 

When buying paper for printing out photographs the most common sizes are based on the International Standard ISO 216, which is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes, are shown below:

With the most common used size being A4, which is available in a number of different finishes and thicknesses.  It is important to note though that some countries, like America use a different system which includes sizes like letter, legal and ledger and Japan have their JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard).  Some people still refer to foolscap as this was a common paper size in the UK, before the new ISO standard was accepted.

For this assignment (Unit 310) I will be using A3 paper supplied by D S Colour Labs for the majority of the prints, and A3+ for the last print which will be printed at Burton College.  This last print will have to be trimmed to fit the presentation folder which is A3 in size.

The ISO paper size A standard is based on each size being half of the size of the previous one, when folded parallel to the shorter lengths. This system allows for a variety of useful applications, such as the enlarging and reducing of images without any cut off or margins, or folding to make a booklet of the next size down.

The ISO 216 definition of the A paper sizes is based on the following basis:

• The length divided by the width is 1.4142
• The A0 size has an area of 1 square metre.
• Each subsequent size A(n) is defined as A(n-1) cut in half parallel to its shorter sides.
• The standard length and width of each size is rounded to the nearest millimetre.