If you are digging through the menus of your Nikon D3500 trying to change the aspect ratio before taking a photo, you are going to hit a roadblock.
The D3500 has a 24-megapixel sensor that generates images up to 6000×4000 pixels, which translates to a native aspect ratio of 3:2. While many advanced cameras allow you to change this ratio in-camera before you press the shutter (to shoot a square 1:1 or a wide 16:9, for example), the D3500 does not have this feature.
Regardless of which picture quality and size settings you choose, still images are always shot at a 3:2 aspect ratio, while video is always recorded in 16:9.
However, you aren’t completely out of luck. If you want to share a photo with a different aspect ratio directly from the camera without using a computer, you can crop the images after the fact using the camera’s internal Trim function.
How to change the aspect ratio in-camera
To access the cropping tools, press the Menu button, navigate to the Retouch Menu (the icon that looks like a paintbrush), and select Trim.
If you don’t see the Retouch Menu, check that there’s a memory card in the camera with photos on it. The camera only shows that menu when there are pictures to work on. You can also get to the same tools from playback: with the photo on screen, press the i button and choose Retouch.
Once you select an image to trim, you can cycle through the different aspect ratio preset templates by rotating the main command dial at the top right of the camera.
3:2 Aspect ratio
This is the native aspect ratio of the D3500’s sensor. It is the classic shape of 35mm film and perfectly matches a standard 4×6 print.
4:3 Aspect ratio
Slightly squarer than the native 3:2, this is the native format for Micro Four Thirds cameras and older standard-definition televisions and monitors.
5:4 Aspect ratio
While this looks like an unusual fraction, this is actually the exact aspect ratio required if you want to make a classic 8×10 physical print without cutting off any edges.
1:1 Aspect ratio
Otherwise known as a perfect square. This is incredibly useful for framing subjects for Instagram or printing on square canvases.
16:9 Aspect ratio
This is the wide, shorter aspect ratio that is standard for HDTVs, modern computer monitors, and most smartphones held horizontally. It’s excellent for sweeping landscapes but less common for physical printing.
Adjusting and sizing the crop
Once you have selected your desired aspect ratio, you aren’t stuck with a center crop. You can control exactly how the frame is positioned:
- Move the Frame: Use the directional pad around the OK button on the back of the camera to slide the yellow crop box around your image.
- Resize the Frame: Use the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons (the magnifying glass symbols with the plus and minus signs, just below the OK button on the right side of the back) to make the crop tighter or looser.
As you resize the frame, you’ll notice the final pixel dimensions update in the top right corner. Keep in mind that resizing in-camera is a fairly blunt instrument; the box jumps in preset steps rather than scaling smoothly.
The limitations of in-camera trimming
Because the D3500’s Trim function is a post-processing tool rather than a true shooting mode, it comes with a few significant limitations:
- It generates JPEGs: If you are shooting with RAW (.NEF) files, applying a trim will process the edit and save a brand-new JPEG file alongside the original. Your original RAW file will remain untouched.
- It is tedious for bulk edits: You can only trim one single image at a time. If you shoot a sequence of 50 photos that you want in a 16:9 ratio, doing this in-camera will be incredibly frustrating.
It throws away pixels: Trimming is cropping, so the new file is always smaller than the original. For example, the biggest square you can cut from a 6000×4000 frame is 4000×4000, about 16 megapixels instead of 24. That’s still plenty for sharing and most prints, but the camera can’t add back what the crop removes.
Ultimately, the Trim menu is a handy feature for cropping a single photo to send quickly to your smartphone. But for fine-tuned control or to apply a crop to multiple images at once, you will be much better off importing your 3:2 files into a desktop or mobile editor like Lightroom and doing the cropping there.
Things worth knowing: Panoramas
Can the Nikon D3500 shoot panoramas? The D3300 (a few models earlier) featured a built-in panorama mode, but Nikon removed that feature in the D3400 and D3500.
It’s still completely possible to shoot panoramas with the D3500, but you have to do it the traditional way: shooting a sequence of overlapping images and stitching them together on your computer. It takes a bit more work, but the resolution and quality are significantly better than the old built-in sweep mode. I’ve put together a guide to shooting panoramas with the Nikon D3400 here, and the exact same process applies to the D3500.
Nikon D3500 explorer
Here’s a fun tool I put together that explores the various buttons and dials on the Nikon D3500. And just as importantly, it shows what terminology Nikon uses for them, since each manufacturer has their own dialect and jargon.
“… it only applies to JPG files. If you’re shooting with the RAW NEF files, you can apply the trim and it will save a new JPG file alongside the original NEF. The original NEF will remain untouched.”
Does this mean the cropped JPG file is degraded from the RAW file?
Thanks for this very useful info. I wish I had known earlier. I need RAW files of my square paintings.
“Degraded” might be too strong a word for it, even if it is true in a technical sense. The RAW version is what the sensor sees (or, on the D3500, extremely close to it, since its RAW files are also compressed).
The JPG versions are created in-camera from that same original data. The JPGs are derivative (2nd generation) versions and have more compression applied. And that compression is a lossy compression. So, in a technical sense, the JPG versions do take a small hit in terms of image quality.
But in practice, the hit is generally imperceptible visually. And the JPG versions will almost always look much better than the RAW versions anyway for the very reason that they’re processed and enhanced rather than flat raw data.
So it really depends on what your use is. If you have an editor or archive that requires RAW versions that are completely unadulterated, that’s one thing. RAW versions are also have advantages for long-term archival storage (although there are complications there that have to do with future compatibility).
If you’re after a better-looking version visually, the JPG is nearly always the best way to go (unless you’re processing the RAW files separately). You can also set the processing quality higher than the default (more info here). When photographing art, there is some risk of shifting colors and contrast being introduced.
And there’s also a best-of-both-worlds option: the D3500 has the ability to save RAW+JPG, which saves a copy in each version. Or even process JPG versions from the RAW masters after the fact using the camera’s Retouch features.