February 10, 2006

Kodak's Digital Sales Overtake Film

Further proof that digital is here to stay, and that film sales are in decline: Kodak's just-released sales figures for 2005 reveal that digital sales accounted for more than half of the venerable film company's total revenue.

The entire press release may be found at Kodak's website.

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February 8, 2006

OpenRAW Conducts Digital Photographer's Survey

The OpenRAW initiative is conducting a survey to collect information about the experiences, requirements, preferences, and concerns of digital photographers regarding RAW imaging technology. If you're among the growing number of photographers who even occassionally capture images in RAW format, then you are strongly encouraged to participate in the survey.

The Complete Press Release from the OpenRAW initiative is as follows:

RAW Survey launched: An International Study of the Experiences, Requirements, Preferences, and Concerns of Photographers regarding RAW Imaging Technology

On January 31, 2006, the OpenRAW initiative launched an international survey on its Web site (http://openraw.org/survey/) to collect information about the experiences, requirements, preferences, and concerns of digital photographers and other interested parties regarding RAW imaging technology — a concept that many writers are comparing to a "digital negative".

RAW Technology Issues

As the digital properties of RAW image files have become better understood, many digital photographers have embraced RAW technology as the best means to obtain maximum image quality for themselves and their clients. However, during the past year many photographers, photo archivists, and others involved in digital imaging have become concerned about the absence of a robust, common standard for RAW image file formats. Faced with a proliferation of proprietary RAW format— often different for each successive camera model from each camera manufacturer— imaging professionals and devoted amateurs have experienced significant disruptions in their digital image workflow and limitations in their choice of software tools.

This expansion of the sheer number of proprietary RAW formats and the adoption by camera manufacturers of the practice of encryption to conceal information stored in RAW image files have increased fears about the viability of RAW formats for the long term archiving of photographic material. Some manufacturers whose cameras produced proprietary RAW files have already gone out of business, with unknown consequences for future access to those images. Many photographers are concerned that RAW files from current camera models may not be accessible in the future when those models are discontinued.

Why a Survey?

Although these topics are being discussed in many photography forums, we have very little systematic information about the experiences, requirements, preferences, and concerns of photographers regarding RAW imaging technology. One thing is clear— many photographers and archivists believe that camera manufacturers are making important decisions about RAW image technology with little or no input from the people who buy and use their equipment or who are involved in the preservation of photographic works. The OpenRAW survey will give photographers and other interested parties an opportunity to have a voice in the further development of RAW imaging technology.

The online survey questionnaire will be available for eight weeks beginning on January 31, 2006. The date was chosen to coincide closely with the 168th anniversary of an address by William Henry Fox Talbot to the Royal Society of London in 1839 describing a process of "photogenic drawing" (the collotype) based on a paper "negative" that would permit unlimited copies of an image to be made.

We encourage everybody with an interest in RAW image formats to visit the OpenRAW website at http://openraw.org/survey/ and to complete the survey questionnaire, which will take approximately 10-15 minutes. All responses will be kept completely anonymous and confidential. The OpenRAW organization and survey have no connection with any business or commercial interest. The purpose of the survey is to give professional and amateur photographers a means to express their requirements, preferences, and concerns which will be made available to camera manufacturers, software development firms, and other key participants in the digital imaging industry.

Results of the survey will be reported at the OpenRAW Web page. We believe good decisions by the digital photography industry should take account of the needs, requirements, and preferences of the photographers who make their living or pursue their artistic vision through this medium. We will share the survey results widely in the hope that the future of the craft will benefit.

For more information please visit the OpenRAW web site: http://www.OpenRAW.org

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September 6, 2005

Adobe and Nikon Agree To Work Together?

I was somewhat surprised by the Nikon/Adobe announcement that appeared on the Digital Photography Review (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0509/05090601nikon_adobe.asp) website this morning. Nikon caused a stir in the digital photography world earlier this year when it encrypted white balance information in Camera Raw format files generated by its D2X camera. There was a real fear among photographers that Nikon's encryption of this information was intended to prevent companies like Adobe from accessing raw format images directly.

Today's announcement, however, raises a number of questions. While each company has made vague comments about working together for the common good, neither has mentioned how it will work together. Likewise, Nikon has not said anything definitive regarding its encryption of white balance information, why it elected to use encryption, whether it intends to expand its use of encryption, and whether these issues relate in any way to Nikon's desire to promote is own Nikon Capture software.

It will be interesting to see what level of cooperation between Adobe--who has been promoting its own raw format standard called Digital Negative or DNG and its own raw format converter for Photoshop--and Nikon--who is promoting its own raw format, NEF, and the development of its own raw converter, Nikon Capture--actually exists given these potentially conflicting interests.

For more information about Adobe's Digital Negative format, see http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/main.html. For more information about Nikon's efforts to protect its NEF format, see http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Nikon-Defends-Encrypted-NEF-Format.htm.

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July 24, 2005

Obsolescence and the OpenRAW movement

Some of you may notice that I've added the OpenRAW logo to the list of links. OpenRAW is a movement that seeks to have camera manufacturers openly document their raw image formats. Given that obsolescence is an unfortunate side-effect of any quickly advancing technology, the OpenRAW movement deserves credit for attempting to avoid the loss of information necessary to support older digital cameras. Even if you upgrade equipment, you may still want to be access older raw images one day.

Consider the advances that digital cameras have made in the last five years alone. Even consumer level cameras have seen the megapixel count rise and list of features grow while the prices have fallen. At some point, each camera manufacturer will stop supporting older digital cameras and devote its development resources to more recent cameras. When the support for older cameras ends, it is likely that the camera manufacturer will also stop updating the software needed to interpret raw images created by the camera. For most people, the lack of support for raw images probably doesn't matter because they shoot jpegs or some other established image format. However, those who even occasionally shoot raw images may find the lack of support will ultimately preclude use of the camera to capture raw images. The lack of support also means that anything shot in raw format today may not be accessible in the future.

This sort of obsolescence--what amounts to a forced upgrade at some point--has plagued the computer industry for years. I remember early flat-bed scanners that used proprietary software. When the world moved from Windows 3.1 into Windows 95, support for the old scanners ended and no Windows 95 software was written for the old scanners. The end result was that if you wanted to continue using the older scanner, you would have to set a computer aside--as if frozen in time--to continue running the older software, and if something went wrong, you were on your own. The same thing happened again when the world moved from Windows 95 to Windows 2000/XP. Support for older equipment ended.

While we may accept this sort of forced obsolescence when it comes to computers, this is a relatively new concept for photography. Cameras tend to have a relatively long useful life. For example, a Leica rangefinder camera manufactured nearly 50 years ago still works as well today as the day it was new. While most professional cameras may not have enjoyed as long a run as the Leica M-series cameras, they still tended to have a useful life significantly longer than what has been seen with digital cameras today. I question whether anyone expects to receive even ten years of service from one of the current crop of digital cameras. Given how prices have dropped and megepixels have jumped, being forced to replace a digital camera after a few years of service may not be a big deal.

Obsolescence with equipment is one thing. Obsolescence with the images themselves is an entirely different matter. I can accept that one day I will upgrade equipment. However, having recently stumbled across a box of images from a decade or so ago--including a number that were unedited--it caused me to wonder whether the images I shoot in raw format today will be accessible in a few years. I would like to think that in another decade, I will be able to pull out a CDROM of images from now and still be able to open files saved in raw format.

For more information about OpenRaw, take a look at their website, www.OpenRAW.org. For more information about camera raw (a common name for raw image formats), take a look at the Wikipedia entry for “Camera Raw” at Wikipedia.

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June 17, 2005

The End Of Traditional Black And White Photography?

In what is yet another example of how the digital revolution is changing photography, reports started flying around the Internet yesterday about Kodak's announcement to discontinue manufacturing black and white photographic paper. One of the first announcements I noticed appeared on the Digital Photography Review website. Just about every photographer I know first learned to create images using black and white film and printing on black and white paper. Despite the decline in Kodak's black and white photographic paper business, it would appear--for the moment--that other manufacturers will continue making the paper. Still, the time does not seem far off when making black and white prints (silver prints) will be limited to artistic purposes rather than everyday photograhpy, and it may ultimately mean the end of traditional black and white photography.

Although the reports indicate that Kodak will continue making black and white film, it is difficult to see the point. Black and white film without black and white paper is only half a solution, and while the current photo printers can handle printing black and white, the prints just don't have the same look. There is something comforting in the knowledge that the venerable Tri-X will remain available for a while longer. Personally, however, I find it more comforting that the black and white image conversion software I use understands how Tri-X translated the color world into black and white, and allows me to give a digital image the appearance of having been shot with Tri-X.

Posted by slewis at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2005

Perspective Control

One of the more amazing aspects of digital photography is the ability to manipulate an image. I'm not talking about anything extreme, like duplicating subjects in the photograph (which, as one major newspaper discovered, will inevitably be discovered when a subject is recognized). Instead, what amazes me are the more subtle changes that can be made, particularly the changes that would be more difficult, if not impossible, to detect.

Perspective control (PC) is one such subtle change. I remember the first time I played with a PC lens. It was amazing how adjusting the lens allowed me to adjust the perspective. However, it quickly became clear that finding the correct adjustment was not a trivial matter, and even that was more a matter of guess-work than precision.

Now with Photoshop, you can throw a grid over the image to find out how skewed the perspective is, and then you can alter the perspective of the image until it lines up with the grid. Easy as one, two, three. If the guesswork is off a bit, you can use the undo option to go back to the original.

The following images illustrate this. The first was a "portrait" of the Freedom Tower in Miami (as reflected off one of the more modern buildings in downtown Miami). The second image is the same "portrait" with the perspective corrected digitally.

The Original Image


Details: ISO: 200 | Exposure: 1/250 at f/3.5 | Focal Length: 300mm

The Adjusted Image


Details: ISO: 200 | Exposure: 1/250 at f/3.5 | Focal Length: 300mm
Perspective adjusted in Photoshop.

Without seeing the images side-by-side, and without being told, would you know whether the adjusted image was altered?

Posted by slewis at 7:10 AM | Comments (3)

February 12, 2005

First Mobile Entry

In a fit of random curiosity, sparked in part by a conversation that I had with a friend today, I decided to try posting an entry using my BlackBerry.

Of course, there's really nothing new about this. For quite some time now, photographers armed with notebook computers and wireless internet have been able to transmit images in near-real time (with the delay being the time it takes to copy the image from the camera and edit it).

It would appear that we are rapidly approaching the point where time and distance become meaningless, thanks in part to those who chase light around the globe.

Posted by slewis at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

February 3, 2005

The Digital Revolution?

Much of the photography-related literature these days speaks of the "digital revolution" we are currently experiencing. While there is no question that digital photography has finally moved into the mainstream, I find it difficult to believe that what we are experiencing is the revolution.

For me, the "digital revolution" started on January 20, 1989. Like other news reporting organizations, the Associated Press had started experimenting with digital photography, first by scanning negatives for transmission (replacing the old process of making a print which would be placed on a transmitter) and then with digital cameras. On January 20, the Associated Press used a digital camera to photograph President-elect George Bush immediately after he raised his hand to take the oath of office. According to the reports--which filtered through to all AP offices--the image of Bush taking the oath was transmitted around the world before he finished the oath and put his hand down. After years of having to process film, make prints, attach type-written captions and then transmit the result, being able to eliminate all of that work and transmit the image quickly was revolutionary.

Posted by slewis at 1:02 PM | Comments (0)

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