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The
Future of Photography (2008)
How do you imagine the future of photography?
Digital photography is quickly evolving, and I think that in future
we will see many innovations, that will open new horizons to
photographer and videomakers. In this article I have described
my current (September 2008) view of the future.
Video mode
The Nikon D90 and the successor of Canon 5D are the
first cameras that offers HD video mode: I think that it is destined
to become a standard feature for all future cameras. Still
photography and video will soon converge, with many advantages:
. the APS-C or fullframe sensors of SLR cameras are
much bigger than the sensors of the majority of camcorders, thus
they allow to get a much shallower depth of field and more pleasing
background blur!
. you will be able to use
all you SLR lenses to take videos - the majority of
camcorders have poor wide-angle capabilities and poor macro mode
(you can focus even at very short distances, but you have to use the
shortest focal length and you get unpleasing background blur).
Imagine taking videos with a 600mm f/4, or with a 180mm macro, or
with a 5x Canon MP-E macro, with a Fisheye or a Sigma 12-24mm ultra
wide angle...
. thanks to their large sensors, "still"
cameras have much, much better high-ISO
capabilities than traditional camcorders.
No more mirror:
EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) cameras
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On September 12, 2008, Panasonic has announced the
first "SLR-like" camera with interchangeable lenses, but
no mirror, nor optical viewfinder: the Panasonic G1 (click
here for Dpreview's report). Even though this kind of cameras
has still some limitations, I believe that in 5-10 years they will
become the new standard. This design offers various advantages:
. it is possible to create lighter,
smaller cameras (since there are no longer the mirror
and the pentaprism that take space). In alternative, manufacturers
could create cameras with the same size and weight of the current
SLRs, but with more and better features, taking advantage of the
more room now available inside the camera body.
. the EVF (electronic viewfinder) can be brighter
and larger than the optical viewfinder. The EVF of
the Panasonic G1 is already better than the optical viewfinder of
some reflex, as Dpreview says: "The real revelation is when you try it next to the Olympus E-420 (using our tried and tested method of putting a camera up to each eye); the G1's viewfinder image looks huge (it's at least 50% larger), and a lot brighter"
(source
page here).
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. the EVF can show the depth
of field in real-time without getting darker. With
optical viewfinder, instead, when you activate the depth of field
preview, the viewfinder becomes darker, and at small apertures it is
really difficult to evaluate the scene. (indeed, with my Canon
1DsIII I never use the depth of field preview into viewfinder,
because the darkening makes it almost unusable)
. you no longer need mirror
lock up, since there is no mirror! This is a big plus
for macro photography. With some SLRs that offers Live View (Canon
40D, Canon 50D) it is already possible to avoid mirror lock up if
you are shooting with live view, while other SLR (e.g. Canon
1DsIII), in spite of the live view, still require mirror lock up.
With all "EVF cameras", instead, mirror lock up will be a
thing of the past.
. it is much easier to do sensor
cleaning, because the sensor is much more close to
the lens mount, and there is not the risk of damaging the mirror,
the AF sensors or the shutter.
. very silent operation,
since there is not the "tlack!" of the mirror: there will
be no risk to scare shy animals with the shutter sound.
. another advantage of no mirror is the possibility
of very high frame rates, both for video and for
photography - imagine being able to shoot at 20 FPS or so at full
resolution, or to shoot HD video at 60FPS or more! The Panasonic G1
is not a professional sport camera so it has not these capabilities,
but I'm sure that in future we will see such cameras.
Contrast Detection
AF
Nowadays, all SLR use Phase Detection AF; some SLR
have a kind of contrast detection AF during live view, but it is
pretty poor. The Panasonic G1 is the first camera that has a serious
contrast detection AF, and I think that in future this system will
become more and more diffused. The advantages of contrast detection
AF are:
. it does not require
additional AF sensors, so the hardware is simpler
(and a little cheaper).
. it can be enhanced, or even completely re-designed,
by firmware: you are no
longer dependent by many hardware components (for contrast detection
AF, the only hardware component is the main image sensor).
. it has the potential to be more
precise than phase detection AF, since it can check
the focus at pixel-level.
In-camera memory
and Wi-Fi
| In five or ten years, there will no longer be SD or
CF memory cards. All cameras will have 100 or 200 GB of in-camera
flash memory; when you want to download the photo, you just have to
place the camera near your PC or Mac, and the photos will be
immediately transferred through Wi-Fi. If you takes photos in
studio, you will even be able to see the photos immediately pop up
on your computer screen! (nowadays some digicams already have
built-in Wi-Fi, but there is not yet any reflex with this capability
built-in). |
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. 100 or 200 GB allows to store thousands
of photos even with high resolution cameras, you will
never run out of memory.
. the internal memory will be fast enough to allow
you to use continuos shooting
as much as you want, there will be no longer buffer limitations!
. through Wi-Fi, you will even be able to connect
the camera to your 4G mobile phone, to send
the photos immediately on internet. For photo
journalism, this is a useful possibility; nowadays many professional
camera have already this capability, but only using a Wi-Fi hotspot,
they are not able to use the cellular network...not yet :-)
Megapixel, DR and
noise
. I expect to see more and more
(useless) megapixels in future cameras. Why useless?
Because with the current 10 megapixel (APS) - 20 (FF) megapixel
cameras you already have all the resolution you need; I think that
10 megapixel are more than enough for amateurs, and with 20
megapixel even the most exigent professional have enough
resolution... Sadly, the "megapixel race" is not likely to
end soon, and I think that in 3-4 years we will see 20-25 megapixel
APS-C cameras and 40-50 megapixel FF...
. hopefully, the manufacturers will be able to
improve the image quality at high ISO,
in spite of the exaggerated resolutions. Even though exceptional
high ISO capabilities are not essential, and all SLR cameras
currently in production are at least usable up to ISO 1600, I'd
really like to be able to shoot at very high ISO with little noise.
. it is likely that future camera will have more
dynamic range, even though honestly I don't care much
about DR - even current cameras are pretty good in this respect, and
when I need more DR I use blended exposures.
Not essential, but
useful: GPS and touchscreen
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. it is likely that future cameras will include a
GPS receiver for geotagging.
Honestly I have never considered geotagging an important feature,
but it seems to get more and more popular, and since GPS receivers
are cheap and small, I think that they will end up being integrated
in cameras.
. in some digicams the
touchscreen has already replaced all the button on
the back of the camera, and in 4-5 years I expect to see them even
in SLRs, even though they won't replace all the buttons as they do
in digicams. Touchscreen would be useful for the navigation into
camera menus and during photo playback.
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Less prints and
better screens
Ten years ago, when I begun taking photos with a
film camera, the only purpose of a photo was to make the print.
Nowadays, I make few prints only when some friend ask me a print of
my photos - otherwise, I prefer view the
photos on my high resolution 19" LCD screen,
that has roughly the same size of a 30x40cm print. The image quality
of many modern screens is fantastic, and you can view as many high
resolution photos as you want, without spending a single $ for
printing!
If the high resolution screen are the equivalent of
large prints, the mobile phones are the
substitute of 5x7" prints. You no longer have to
print and to carry with you dozens of 5x7" photos to show your
work or your latest trip to friends: nowadays, there are already
mobile phones with 3"-4" screens, with a resolution of
640x480px or even 800x480px. On these screens you can display photos
with an amazing clarity and detail, and into a mobile phone you can
store thousands of photos!
In future, I think that these trends will go on more
and more, thanks to the improvement of technology: super thin, large
high resolution screens will be the standard for desktop computers
(that will take less space than current computers, thanks to
"all in one" designs as the Apple
iMac or the Dell
XPS One), and 3-4" high resolution screens will become the
standard even in the mid-range and low-range mobile phones.
Do you have
comments or questions?
If you have comments or questions about this
article, feel free to ask in the Juza
Nature Photography Discussion Forum!
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