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The future of photography

If this is the present than what is the future?

After looking at the present the future appears incredibly exciting. If all the information previously talked about is placed together in one camera we would end up having a two lens, compact hybrid, advanced wireless, lowlight sensor, HD video, intelligent thinking camera and this may prove to be too much for just one model! However all of this futuristic technology has become part of today’s world so the reality of this vision is perhaps not as far out of our reach as we think. The more technology we cram into one model the more complications the manufacturers come up against. For example the battery life of a camera is greatly jeopardised by the more features the camera includes so each technological advancement has many other factors to adapt. 

Presently the amount of cameras on the market is astronomical and many models only stick around for a short amount of time before they are replaced by something very similar. Perhaps the future would benefit from seeing fewer models on the market and less unnecessary upgrades on an annual occurrence but when the technology is ready to be launched.

The other question worth bearing in mind is have we gone too far and maybe the camera of the future could be a camera we have already seen? As is noted with the megapixel race we have now reached a stage where the manufacturers are reducing the resolution as the image quality was greatly suffering. There are many new technologies that are going to need refining so if we move at a slower pace than we may find that the digital camera of the future is one that sticks around for some time. 

The next big thing

The Samsung NX is still a concept technology, but for how long?

Samsung recently announced their new hybrid camera technology that will arrive to the market in the form of the NX series. This groundbreaking technology is similar in concept to the micro four thirds system that Panasonic launched back in 2008 however the main difference is the Samsung APS-C sensor. This is a large sensor that will be put in a compact body (smaller than the Olympus E-P1 and new Panasonic GF1) meaning images will be produced at a high quality from a camera the size of a point and shoot model. The Samsung NX camera takes out the traditional mirror box that a DSLR utilises and replaces it with an electronic viewfinder meaning the body of the camera can be much smaller.

In terms of what this type of technology changes in the market is highlighted by Sang-jin Park, CEO of Samsung Digital Imaging Company who quotes “We estimate that the hybrid digital camera market will be over 20% of the global digital still camera market by 2012,”. He goes on to state that “Samsung Digital Imaging will become a global leader in the new hybrid digital camera market and achieve the company’s goal to become the global leader in the digital camera market by 2012.” If this is true than the future is Samsung however it will be interesting to see how the other market leaders react to this technology and undoubtedly the future of the camera market is still wide open.

Future Concepts

The next stage in photography may not require human interaction at all…

Over the past five years the developments in automatic image taking has gone through a number of innovations, from blink and smile detection through to motion detection. Microsoft’s SenseCam, for example, uses more in-depth means to detect when to take a snap.

The wearable camera can take an image based on the feedback from a series of sensors to take a snap. Not only is the SenseCam triggered by changes in light and movement by the wearer, but alterations in temperature, light sensitivity and body heat. With no viewfinder or LCD screen the camera doesn’t allow for traditional framing, but the extreme wide-angle lens allows the majority of content within the wearer’s field of vision to be captured. The SenseCam has many applications, including aiding Alzheimer’s sufferers to recall events of the day. There is plenty of potential within the realms of consumer usages to employ such technology, with an increase in body temperature of a subject leading to a drop in colour saturation to hide a flushed person in an image for example.

The usage of digital imaging within the realms of science turns up some interesting concepts, such as the Serial Time-Encoded Amplified imaging camera, or Steam, which has the ability to capture 6,000,000 images in a second. The system can be used for capturing incidents that occur faster than the human eye can perceive, such as the relationship between cells. By only using a single sensor the Steam system is quite ready for being adopted onto a standard digital camera, but imagine the possibilities for taking over 1,000,000 shots a second….  

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