
PaaS: Photography as a Service
The age of the camera is slowly coming to an end—especially the bulky DSLR and all its associated declinations.
The age of the camera is slowly coming to an end—especially the bulky DSLR and all its associated declinations.
The first iteration of the Internet, the one we are still somewhat experiencing, was built on the fundamental belief that content should be free.
Polaroid founder Edwin Land was a visionary tech titan of his time, and as is common with pioneering entrepreneurs, Land had unusual foresight into where technology was headed. Here's a neat video from 1970 in which Land accurately predicts the coming age of smartphone cameras in everyone's pocket.
Over the last few weeks, it seems like the world wide web has been swamped with both explainers and critiques of Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs. It’s a pyramid scheme! It’s the next thing in Fine Art! It’s an ecological disaster! I am making so much money!
The problem with technology is that it can look dated the older it gets. How good does a VHS tape look on your 4K TV? The same thing can happen with cameras. While 24-megapixel cameras are making great pictures, what they are going to be compared to is about to change… radically. You need to understand how the next generation of digital cameras will affect you, especially if you are a pro or serious amateur.
The worldwide sales of standalone digital cameras have been plummeting since they peaked in around 2010, but Canon thinks its industry is still in for some serious pain in the coming years. The company believes the market will plummet another 50% over just the next two years.
The defiant cry of the nostalgic hipster that’s become a hashtag: #filmisnotdead. But why? It’s 2019, people -- the digital camera reigns supreme; why won’t this analog trend die? Rationalism abandons the old way in recognition of the new’s superior efficiency. The combine harvester supplanted the scythe, clocks replaced the sundial, and electric lights extinguished the candle.
2018 was an important year for mirrorless. As we kick off the new year, it's a good time for some reflection on the market. I've written quite a bit about where we are now that all the big players are seriously in the mirrorless game. This time I thought I'd write about what I think each company will/should be doing in the coming year+.
There are two major trends in photography today. The first is the ever-increasing numbers of photos being made. I can't even be bothered to look up how many billions of photos are being uploaded to Instickrbook every minute or every day or every year. It's a lot. This is usually talked about in terms of how many photos there are, and how we are drowning in them.
People often ask me, given the improvement and ubiquity of cell phones, whether DSLRs survive. This actually entails two slightly different questions: will standalone large-ish cameras survive, and will the particular reflex design (the R in DSLR) survive? I am cautiously optimistic about the former and very pessimistic about the latter. In this piece, I will discuss DSLR vs. mirrorless.
There's plenty of speculation among photographers as to when Canon and Nikon plan to announce full-frame mirrorless cameras, but Sony itself has thoughts on when a formidable challenge to its mirrorless cameras will arise from the two juggernaut industry rivals. A Sony executive is now saying that he believes we'll see the unveiling of such cameras within a year.
It’s not exactly a camera that can slip in to a coat pocket, but the RED Weapon 8K can capture both 8K motion footage as well as 36MP still photos. Photographer and director Vincent Laforet believes the camera is a harbinger for the future of photography.
One of the world's most popular cameras may be about to get a huge leap in tech and quality: a new report says that Apple is planning to introduce dual rear cameras in its upcoming iPhone 7 Plus.
Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki has done quite a good job at boosting his brand's reputation in the world of photography over the past few years, as the company's Art series of lenses has drawn rave reviews for their optical quality, solid build, and relative affordability.
In a new interview, Yamaki shared a bold prediction about the future of the camera industry: he believes that Sony will emerge as the major player.
Since the introduction of 1080p video recording in the Canon 5D Mark II in 2008, there has been a strong adoption of DSLRs for pro and amateur video production purposes, and video features have become standard in DSLRs in recent years.
But the growth in DSLR usage for pro video applications may be rather short-lived: a recent report predicts that it will actually plummet over the next few years.
When you’re looking to get out and grab some landscape or sunset photography, getting the perfect light is usually a game of chance, but a new web app called Skyfire is looking to change that. By using a proprietary algorithm, Skyfire creates a heat map of light quality, ranked on a scale of 1 to 5, across the United States so you can find the perfect spot and plan your trip ahead of time.
I’m not really sure why, but if you want to watch the Fanboys go completely insane, the simplest thing to do it is throw out “your brand is probably going to be out of business in a few years.” But the simple reality is that’s what happens to most companies eventually, especially technology companies. Photography companies, since, oh, about 1850, have basically been technology companies.
As Apple's WWDC kicks off this week, my thoughts keep coming back to the heated debate with my friends about the future of photography.
Let me step back for a second. Marissa Mayer famously said a few weeks ago that there’s no such thing as professional photographer anymore. The Internet rage followed, and she apologized, saying that what she meant is that we all take photos now. And it’s true. Nothing has revolutionized photography and made it truly global as Apple’s iPhone.
It looks like we'll be seeing at least two new DSLRs appear on the market between now and the end of this year. The latest rumors are saying that Canon will be launching a successor to the 60D shortly -- perhaps by the end of this month -- and that Olympus will be following up its E-5 DSLR with another pro-level Four Thirds DSLR body.
Wondering about the camera gear announcements Canon has planned for the rest of this year? Rumors floating around on the Internet could provide a glimpse into the company's roadmap.
Here's a slightly-oldie but a very-goodie: New York University photography professor Fred Ritchin gave this keynote address last year at the "What's Next?" event put on by Foam. He shares his thoughts on the past, present, and future of digital photography and how it impacts the world around us.
What does Nikon have up its sleeve for 2013? According to Nikon Rumors, it may be at least one pro-sumer DSLR early in the year, possibly followed by a beastly high-megapixel flagship DSLR later in the fall.
There are a number of lifelogging camera projects racing to be first movers in the emerging industry of cameras …
Mobile operating systems have begun making their way into digital cameras, but so far their foray has been limited to compact and mirrorless cameras. However, DSLRs are starting to have built-in Wi-Fi, but it seems to be only a matter of time before a full-fledged mobile OS appears in one.
Apparently some photographers (and Photoshoppers) over in China can't wait for that day to arrive. There's a series of viral images floating around showing Canon and Nikon DSLRs running various operating systems and programs.
Have you heard of the term sousveillance? It's the inverse of surveillance: instead of a camera pointed at individuals, individuals wear their own cameras on themselves to document their activities. Wearable-camera pioneer Steve Mann has written a fascinating piece for Time, titled "Eye Am a Camera: Surveillance and Sousveillance in the Glassage", in which he offers his vision of what the future will look like once wearable cameras such as Google Glass (seen above) become ubiquitous.
Remember those weird floating "precog" psychics in the movie Minority Report? They could foresee crimes before they even happened, allowing law enforcement to prevent them from ever becoming a reality. While that kind of sci-fi foreknowledge will almost certainly never exist, scientists are working on an eerily similar system that uses cameras and artificial intelligence -- a system that they hope will be able to "see" crimes before they even occur.
Businessweek writes that Canon has lowered its sales estimates across all its camera …
In an interview we published this past weekend, popular photo blogger …
A little over a year ago, Nikon launched its new 1 Series mirrorless system by unveiling the …
There are currently two interchangeable-lens rangefinder-esque cameras in Fujifilm's X-Series lineup: the X-Pro1 and the X-E1, both of which contain APS-C sensors. Owners are gushing over the cameras, which are actually quite similar aside from the viewfinders (hybrid vs. electronic only). They feature sleek, retro designs that are very similar to Leica's classic M-line of rangefinders. A common sentiment that I've heard is that the X-Series would be absolutely perfect if the company simply introduced a full frame body.
That time might not be too far off.