Photo&Cameras

“Free NYC Rap” by Olde English.

Proposed restrictions on photography and videography in New York City continued to draw protests on the last day the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting (MOFTB) is accepting comments on them from the public, August 3, 2007. In just a little more than a week, an online petition initiated by Picture New York, a group formed to counter the proposals, has gained over 30,000 signatures. The National Press Photographers Association has also opposed the new rules, noting that they would put “the average photographer at risk.” A group of videographers released a rap video protesting the proposal, referring to shoot-time limitations that would be imposed with an astute observation: “Now picture a scene where you capture a snake: It takes more than ten minutes for the perfect take.”

Details on the proposed restrictions are available in our earlier report and in a PDF on the MOFTB Web site.

In addition to the Picture New York petition, both the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and the MOFTB itself have received many comments on the proposal from amateur and professional photographers. In an interview this week, Julianne Cho, associate commissioner at the MOFTB, stressed that the agency is “looking to remain sensitive to the needs of the entire production community” and is “prepared to revise the proposal” on the basis of the comments it receives. “There’s been a lot of interest in this issue,” Cho noted.

Cho went on to explain how the process will proceed: “After the comment period … the agency will review the comments, and they can do one of three things: They can make no changes, they could make some changes and publish the final rule, or they could redraft completely, then open up the comment period again.” The new rules would go into effect 30 days after being finalized and republished. Cho was not able to estimate how many permits the MOFTB would have the capacity to issue per day under the new rules.

In response to questions from popphoto.com, NYCLU Associate Legal Director Christopher Dunn stated: “If the City adopts the rules as proposed, we will sue to block them. Not only do they make no sense, they violate the First Amendment.” The proposed rules were created to meet the requirements of a settlement to a previous lawsuit brought by the NYCLU after documentary videographer Rakesh Sharma was detained by police for shooting with a handheld video camera in one spot for more than half an hour.

Penalties for violating permit rules are not specified in the proposal, but Dunn speculated that shooting without a permit would most likely “qualify as what is known as a ‘violation’ in New York, which is not a crime but nonetheless can be the basis for arrest, fines, and incarceration.”

Photographers wishing to comment on the proposed rules before the end of the day on August 3 may write to Julianne Cho, Assistant Commissioner, Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting, at jcho@film.nyc.gov or 1697 Broadway, New York NY 10019.

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The New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB) has issued a statement saying that it will redraft proposed rules governing permits for photography and videography on city property. The decision comes on the last day of the Office’s public-comment period for the rules, and follows protests from the public and organizations such as the New York Civil Liberties Union, Picture New York, and the National Press Photographers Association.

Once the permit rules are redrafted and published, a new 30-day period for public comments will be opened and a public hearing on them will be held.

The full MOFTB statement is below.

The City of New York

Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting

Katherine Oliver
Commissioner

MAYOR’S OFFICE OF FILM, THEATRE AND BROADCASTING ANNOUNCES PROPOSED FILM RULES WILL BE RE-DRAFTED

New Public Comment Period and Hearing To Be Scheduled

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 3, 2007

Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB) Commissioner Katherine Oliver today announced that MOFTB will redraft proposed Charter-mandated rules for issuing permits to film or photograph on public property. The revision of the rules will take into account feedback MOFTB has received over the past two months. Public comment, which is scheduled to end today, will be re-opened for another 30-day period after the redrafted rules are published.

The decision to codify procedures came as part of a settlement from a recent lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). By reflecting existing procedures in City rules, MOFTB has endeavored to meet the challenge of identifying a threshold level of activity which necessitates a film permit, while at the same time substantially mirroring its current practices. The goal is to maintain a safe environment for the public, while balancing the needs of filmmakers whose work may have a significant impact on pedestrian or vehicular use of public space. A copy of the rules that were initially proposed is available on the MOFTB website at www.nyc.gov/film.

The proposed rules are designed to codify procedures that have existed in practice since the office was established in 1966 as the first film commission in any locality in the nation. MOFTB has always offered free permits requiring only liability insurance under certain circumstances. In addition, if warranted by the activity, it has also offered free police assistance to streamline filming in New York City. The permit has served as the filmer’s authorization to interact with, and stage production activity, on City property.

The rules were published on May 25, 2007 and a hearing on the proposed rules took place on June 28, 2007. In response to the significant interest in the rules, MOFTB extended the comment period through August 3, 2007. After August 3rd, MOFTB will be reviewing comments. Upon completion of this review, MOFTB will redraft the proposed rules, taking into account input and feedback it has received from interested parties, to more effectively strike the balance between public safety and the needs of filmmakers.

Among other things, the re-drafting phase will focus on meaningfully addressing concerns that sections (b)(ii) and (b)(iii) affected individuals who were not engaged in the type of activities traditionally regulated by MOFTB. These are the sections of the proposed rules that defined the conduct which triggered the requirement for a permit from MOFTB and included such considerations as the number of people involved and the duration of the activity. The redrafted proposed rules will then be published, a new 30-day comment period will be provided, and a public hearing will be held to consider the new proposal.

“We are dedicated to fulfilling our obligation to create film permitting rules as mandated by the City Charter,” said Commissioner Oliver. “We appreciate the feedback and collaboration of the production community in the City, and look forward to revising our proposal. Our office remains committed to providing our customers with expedited coordination of their film location work in the safest manner possible, so that the City’s film and television industry can continue to flourish, free speech is protected and all parties can continue to film, photograph and enjoy the greatest City in the world.”

The proposed rules do not impact press photographers, who are routinely credentialed by the NYPD. Nor do they impose new requirements upon student filmmakers, who have maintained access to permit services for 40 years and who will continue to be able to meet their insurance obligations by coverage through their school’s insurance. Under the proposed rules, applicants who can demonstrate that they are unable to meet the insurance requirement will be eligible for a waiver of that requirement.

As the rulemaking process continues, its status and other required notifications — including notification of the publication of the revised proposal and the effective date of a final rule — will be posted on MOFTB’s website. For this information, as well as a current copy of the proposed rules, please visit the MOFTB website at www.nyc.gov/film.

The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting is the first film commission in the United States. It is the one-stop shop for all production needs in New York City, including free permits, free public locations and free police assistance. The agency markets New York City as a prime location, provides premier customer service to production companies and facilitates production throughout the City’s five boroughs.

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DPReview have reviewed the Leica M8 digital rangefinder camera, which has a 10 megapixel sensor, focal factor of 1.33x and an ISO range of 160-2500.

“Thankfully Leica made the great decision not to have an anti-alias filter on the M8, this means that the sensor can capture every last ounce of detail from those ultra sharp lenses, and as long as you’re shooting RAW you’ll be able to see that very clearly in the images.”

Website: DPReview – Leica M8 Review

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DPReview has a review of the Leica M8 and writes, “I’m mostly disappointed because of the wide difference between the quality of the output image (at a pixel level) between JPEG’s created in-camera and RAW converted using either Capture One or Adobe Camera RAW (or pretty much any other third party converter). The image processor (specifically the demosaicing, sharpening and low pass algorithms) exhibit some ‘roughness’ which we wouldn’t expect to see in 2007, there must be plenty of off-the-shelf engines which can do a better job. … I have to admit that I’ve been turned, from a skeptic to a believer, certainly the M8 isn’t a camera everyone is going to afford, but a rangefinder is certainly something any ’serious’ photographer should try at some point in their life. It’s changed the way I shoot, I’ve found myself going back to manual focus more even when I use DSLR’s and being more selective about lenses and depth of field, and more creative in my framing. My advice on the M8 would be, if you can afford to then get one, be aware of its limitations, shoot RAW and rediscover ‘capturing moments’.”

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According to data from CIPA (Camera & Imaging Products Association) digital camera shipments by CIPA members (the majority of digital camera manufacturers) are up 27% overall in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. The largest growth coming from DSLRs, a total of 3.5 million units, up some 75% compared to the first half of last year. Despite strong growth price pressures mean that growth by value is less at around 11% for a total of $5.9 billion.

CIPA Shipment of Digital Still Cameras

January – June 2007: Units shipped by region

The overall makeup of regional shipments hasn’t changed very much since last year, there has been a slight equalization between Europe and North America and the ‘Others’ category has grown slightly. In the first half of 2007 both Europe and North America accounted for $2.2 billion worth of digital camera shipments (13.6 million and 13.1 million units respectively).

January – June 2007: Units shipped by region / type & Year-on-Year

Compared to the same period last year North America demonstrated the largest overall growth (by unit) of 36%, closely followed by Asia at 33%. Europe slowed slightly with a growth of just 14% with the domestic market (Japan) growing 23%. Growth of DSLR shipments was up across the board; Japan up 69%, Europe up 68%, North America up 61%, Asia up 136% and Others regions up 87%.

Overall growth for the last six years

As you can see the digital camera market (thanks in no small measure to digital SLRs) continues to grow strongly with an overall 22% growth in units shipped in 2006 and a recovery from a decline by value experienced in 2005 now up 10% to a total of $12.1 billion in 2006 (roughly the same as 2004).

CIPA Regular Members

• Canon
• Casio
• Fujifilm
• HP Japan
• Konica Minolta
• Mamiya
• Matsushita (Panasonic)
• Nidec Copal
• Nikon
• Nokia Japan
• Olympus
• Pentax
• Ricoh
• Sanyo
• Seiko
• Sigma
• Sony
• Tamron
• Tonika

• Adobe Systems
• ALPS
• BenQ
• Brother
• Carl Zeiss
• Cosina
• Dai Nippon Printing
• eSOL
• Flextronics
• FotoNation
• Fujinon
• Fujiseimtsu
• Fujitsu Labs
• Fuji Xerox
• Goko Camera
• Hitachi
• ImageLink
• Kobori
• Kodak Japan
• Leica Camera Japan
• Lexmark
• Microsoft
• Mitsubishi Electric
• Moore Computer Consultants
• NEC
• Nittohkogaku
• Panasonic Photo
• PerkinElmer Japan
• Plawa-feinwerktechnik
• Sagem
• Samsung Electronics
• Samsung Techwin
• Sea and Sea Sunpak
• Seiko Instruments
• Sharp
• Shriro
• Tomy
• Toshiba

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The whole purpose of How To Cheat In Photoshop is to, well, show you how to cheat in Photoshop. According to the author Steve Caplin, he will do this in two ways. First he will show you how to make images that look like photos, but are really composites that you put together and the end result is something that never existed in reality. Second, it is to show you how to take short cuts and to work more quickly and economically. He feels that there are too many long winded explanations out there and he has quicker solutions.

How To Cheat In Photoshop is broken down into 15 chapters and a DVD. The DVD contains most of the workthroughs, but not all; these tend to be some of the case studies that include photos of politicians and celebrities that he was not able to get clearance to include on the DVD. The DVD also contains two hours of video tutorials to demonstrate techniques. It is assumed that you are comfortable working with Photoshop and have a reasonable working knowledge. There is no chapter on setting up, or how to use section. The book is not geared for the very beginning user.

Chapter 1, “Natural Selection” will show you how to select objects. Since the point of this book is to take objects from one setting and integrate them into another, this chapter is fundamental. Chapter 2, “Transform and Distortion” explains how when creating a photomontage and combining images, you will need to change the size and scale of objects to match the rest of the picture.

Chapter 3, “Hiding and Showing” will explain how instead of deleting a layer; which is permanent, you can, instead use a layer mask to remove the item allowing it to return later if needed. Chapter 4, “Image Adjustment” looks at using the curves adjustment to get the shadows and highlights to match. This is important when you are swapping heads or hands and the skin tones don’t look right.

Chapter 5, “Composing the Scene” divines the meaning of the composition of a scene. Here you will learn how to get your characters to interact with their background to make the image more realistic. Chapter 6, “Getting into Perspective” is one of the harder things to get right when working with photomontages, but, according to the author, by learning a few simple skills, you can easily master it.

Chapter 7, “Light and Shade” is all about getting the shadows correct. Without the appropriate light and shading, something will feel wrong about the image. Chapter 8, “Heads and Bodies” continues down the path of getting it right, but this time with heads and bodies. Here you learn to change the direction that your subject is looking in.

Chapter 9, “Shiny Surfaces” will show you how to get reflections right. Here you will learn how to create glazed objects, from bottles and windows to brains in jars. Since shiny object reflect objects around them, you will learn how to get those right as well.

Chapter 10, “Metal, Wood and Stone” explains how to work with metals; which can reflect, and wood and stone, which are much easier to deal with. Chapter 11, “Paper and Fabric” differ from metal, wood and stone in that they are floppy surfaces. They bend and crease, and wrinkle. This chapter covers things like cloths, flags, banners, banknotes and documents.

Chapter 12, “The Third Dimension” shows how simulating 3D doesn’t need to be a nightmare. Here you will find methods to bring out the depth of 3D images. Chapter 13, “Hyper Realism” helps you to add action to your scene. By showing blurs selectively, you can create much more realist action.

Chapter 14, “Time-Saving Techniques” will give you techniques to streamline your skills while working with Photoshop. These go beyond keyboard shortcuts to automating repetitive tasks and preparing artwork in advance. Finally, chapter 15, “Working for Print and Web” takes you beyond seeing the images on your computer screen and readies them for the real world whether it is for the printer or the World Wide Web.

Now in its fourth edition, How To Cheat In Photoshop has become a standard of Photoshop techniques. All in all, there are about 170 tutorials on all aspects of Photoshop. Even if you do not want to create montages, you will find that the time tested methods will expand your skills and knowledge of Photoshop. What if you don’t have Photoshop CS3? At least 90% of the techniques presented in the book will work with a CS version of Photoshop.

My recommendation on How To Cheat In Photoshop, is that if you want to become a master at Photoshop, if you want to save time while working with Photoshop, if you want to learn to create convincing photomontages, then this book is a must have.

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On his blog, Crow explains the improved editing capabilities that are possible using high dynamic range wide gamut image formats (and editing applications that support these formats.) In this image comparison of an 8-bit JPEG and a 16-bit HD Photo file, Crow demonstrates how you can pull out a wider range of details. Notice that the top yellow balloon is translucent in the HD Photo file, a detail that gets lost in the JPEG.

There’s nothing that makes photographers want to run in the other direction more than the idea of switching to a new image file format. But the claims that Microsoft is making for its recently developed HD Photo format (formerly called Windows Media Photo) may be strong enough to make you turn around and take a look.

HD Photo is designed to combine the convenience and space efficiency of the aging JPEG format with much of the flexibility of RAW images. By retaining and decoding data in ways that a JPEG can’t, this new file type could facilitate a broad range of improvements and innovations in the way we shoot, edit, print, and display images.

Microsoft’s HD Photo program manager, Bill Crow, sat down with me after his demonstration at the company’s recent Pro Photo Summit to talk about the advantages of HD Photo, the innovations it might enable, and why it might succeed in making its way into cameras where JPEG 2000 failed.

Jump to a section:
• HD Photo Development
• Software and OS Compatibility
• HD Photo versus JPEG
• HD Photo versus JPEG 2000
• HD Photo versus Raw
• HD Photo and Printing
• Camera Manufacturer Adoption
• Likely Users
• HD Photo and HDR Images

HD Photo Development

Aimee Baldridge: How long has HD Photo been around?

Bill Crow: I’ve been working on it since we really formed the idea of a file format. A lot of the core technology, the compression technology, probably goes back as much as 10 years in Microsoft research. That’s the basis for it. We first started talking publicly about it probably about a year ago. We presented a paper at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, called WinHEC, last year, and I spoke here at this event [Microsoft's Pro Photo Summit] last summer about it. We were providing advanced versions of developer kits for our partners that far back. But the official release of HD Photo was really tied to the release of Vista. It’s all built into Windows Vista.

Software and OS Compatibility

AB: When you say it’s built into Windows Vista, what does that mean exactly?

BC: Windows Vista recognizes lots of different file types, standard file types. For images it recognizes JPEG and TIFF and DNGs and BMP files — and HD Photo files. So the photo experience that’s built into Vista — the fact that you can see thumbnails of images in a folder, the whole Photo Gallery image organizer and editor — that all fully supports HD Photo, along with the other formats. And the HD Photo codec is available for any application developer for Windows Vista through a standard set of APIs, the same APIs they would use to access JPEG or TIFF or the other formats.

AB: Is HD Photo available in image-editing programs?

BC: We’ve just really made it available this year. We have available a plug-in for Photoshop. That’s a free download from Microsoft. Microsoft has an image-editing program, a full graphic arts program that’s built into our Expression family of products. Microsoft Expression is a suite of applications. One of those apps is called Expression Design, and Expression Design supports HD Photo. There is at least one free image-editing program that’s available called Paint.NET, and they’ve added HD Photo support. I get random e-mails from other people telling me they’re putting it in programs I’ve never heard of, so we’re seeing that start to grow.

HD Photo versus JPEG

AB: What are the advantages of HD Photo as opposed to other file formats, like JPEG?

BC: I love JPEG. I really do. We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for JPEG. I think there are three big advantages: The first is the fact that we support a wide range of pixel formats, including high dynamic range, wide gamut formats. JPEG is always used as an 8-bit per channel image format, and so all the information that comes from a camera’s sensor gets subsetted, if you will. It gets clipped to the limits of a JPEG file when it is stored in JPEG mode, which is the principal reason that so many photographers switch to raw — not to suffer that limit, that loss of data. So they have more control over the editing decision as opposed to the camera making automatic decisions when it makes a JPEG file.

With HD Photo we can operate in that same mode. It can be used in 8-bit mode. But we also support higher bit depths, using fixed-point or floating-point numbers. It allows, for example, a camera to make an automatic exposure adjustment decision and produce a ready-to-use file like a JPEG file, an RGB file. The adjustments have been made, but that file preserves the data that would otherwise have been clipped at the gamut and dynamic range limits of the JPEG file. It’s still numerically encoded in the file. So that allows [me to] make an adjustment to the photo after the fact and recover lost highlights or recover colors that might otherwise have been outside of the gamut.

[HD Photo provides] support for lots of different pixel formats. We looked at a demonstration of one of those pixel formats, but we also support CMYK formats and monochrome formats; we support alpha channels. We actually have an n-channel mode where we can have up to eight channels where it’s up to whatever the application is to decide what those channels mean. We tried to build a great deal of flexibility into the format.

The second big advantage is the compression efficiency. HD Photo’s compression algorithm is on average about twice the efficiency of JPEG. That means the same quality in a file that’s half the size. Or, as I demonstrated today, a file that has a lot more content, 16-bit per channel content В… still the same file size.

HD Photo also supports lossless compression, for very demanding applications where you want the highest quality. But it’s all done in the exact same algorithm. Lossless compression is simply our highest-quality mode. When you set the quality to the upper limit it will be mathematically lossless. JPEG still has an upper limit to how good the quality can be from a compression standpoint, just based on the algorithm. We don’t have a limit.

So, flexible pixel formats including high dynamic range is number one. Much better compression technology in a variety of dimensions is number two. And the third [advantage] is the ability to progressively decode an image. You really saw the examples of that not so much from my demonstration but from the Photosynth demonstration and from the HD View gigapixel image viewer demonstration. Both of those were different types of examples where [someone had] gigapixels of image content up on a server and wanted to be able to display them on a PC very smoothly, fluidly, without delay. In the case of Photosynth, those gigapixels were made up of two or three hundred 8-megapixel images. In the case of the gigapixel viewer it was one big 4.3-gigapixel image, but both of those use HD Photo as the underlying file format.

Both of them are based on a similar premise: It doesn’t matter how much content I have up on the server. At any given time I can only use so many pixels to fill the screen; the screen is only so big, and that’s fixed. I could have just terapixels of information on the server but at any given point in time I can only use so many of those pixels. The key is, can I get to the pixels that I need? If I’m using JPEG files, I really have no choice but to download an entire JPEG file. Even if I only need a small portion of it, or I need to see that whole file as a small thumbnail, I have to either have multiple versions of the file that I choose from, or I download the entire file, then I crop it and resize it and that’s what I put on the screen. That’s hugely inefficient. Photosynth could never work if that’s what was required behind the scenes.

The organization of an HD Photo file makes it possible for me to decode from this big stream of compressed data just the portion of the compressed data I need for any given region of the file or any given resolution of the file. The big innovation here is how we organize that compressed data inside the file that lets me index into it and extract subsets of it. We call that progressive decoding.

To give credit where credit is due, a portion of this progressive decoding capability is available in JPEG 2000. So a lot of those same things could be done using JPEG 2000, but there are a bunch of other reasons that we’ve just never seen JPEG 2000 achieve any success for broad consumer use. So while it solves that problem, there are other aspects of the spectrum of digital photography requirements which the industry has just not found JPEG 2000 to be a viable solution for.

HD Photo versus JPEG 2000

AB: If JPEG 2000 wasn’t adopted widely, why will HD Photo be adopted?

BC: I think HD Photo does meet the requirements that aren’t being addressed by JPEG 2000. Clearly one of the challenges that JPEG 2000 has faced is that it does offer certainly much better compression, and it does provide some of these progressive decoding capabilities, but it’s actually a fairly complex algorithm from a mathematical standpoint. To achieve its quality requirements, it runs in a floating-point mode. That’s very efficient — or can be reasonably efficient — on a PC, because a PC has a whole floating-point coprocessor. But that is very difficult to implement in a small, low-power device like a digital camera. So, we have never seen any camera manufacturer ever put support for JPEG 2000 in a camera.

HD Photo versus RAW

AB: How does HD Photo measure up to the capabilities that you get with RAW processing?

BC: I don’t think HD Photo is ever a complete replacement for RAW, but I believe the reason that the majority of photographers who shoot RAW today use RAW is for two very important capabilities, and they’re really just two ways to express the same capability: to be able to recover highlights that may have been lost, to have that extra one, one-and-a-half, maybe even two stops of latitude that is not represented in a JPEG file, and to be able to adjust the white balance after the fact.

By using HD Photo in a high-dynamic-range mode, a 16-bit fixed-point mode for example, I can preserve all the information that came from the camera’s sensor and make it possible to make a white balance change after the fact, to make exposure adjustments that are based on having all the sensor data available.

HD Photo and Printing

There’s another end of the equation where HD Photo becomes an important component, and that’s printing. There are entire books written today on printing workflows, and I’m sure your magazine runs articles regularly explaining the painful step-by-step process. And why do people do that as opposed to just right-click, print on their JPEG file? Well, it’s because they get fundamentally different and better-quality results. And the reason for that is dealing with the fact that the printer has its own color space, which is different from the sRGB color space that I’m working with.

The main reason we go through these complex workflows is to avoid [the photo] getting reduced down to a least common denominator sRGB before it gets handed to the printer, to try to preserve the whole color range.

If I have a file format that captures and holds onto the stuff that might otherwise go out of the limits of the visible range, then I believe it’s absolutely possible that you can have that HD Photo file that looks great on your screen and you can right-click and print from the desktop and get the same really high-quality print that today requires that much more complex workflow.

Camera Manufacturer Adoption

AB: Is there anything you can say about camera manufacturer adoption of HD Photo?

BC: No, I obviously can’t speak for anything that those manufacturers haven’t announced. Cameras come from manufacturers that we’re all familiar with, whether it’s Canon or Nikon or Fuji or Kodak. But most of those cameras use chipsets that come from another whole collection of companies — names that we’re not that familiar with — Sunplus and MediaTek and Novatek and Benq. So the first step toward adoption for HD Photo in devices is actually to be supported in those chipsets. There have been some announcements from at least two or three of those chipset manufacturers that they now support HD Photo and have it available in their chipset. Every one of those chips is a custom chip based on the specs of one of their customers, camera manufacturers.

There is a company I’m familiar with in the U.S. called Picture Elements. And Picture Elements is implementing HD Photo in Verilog. We’re getting into the gory technical depths. Verilog is a language that’s used for companies that make chips. It’s how you describe an algorithm as a set of gates. A Verilog system lets you build the whole thing in software, simulate it before you start actually stamping out chips. So that’s another one of the steps along the road that we have to follow before it actually gets into a camera. It just doesn’t show up in a camera tomorrow because a manufacturer wanted it.

Likely Users

AB: Assuming it does come to market, who would you expect to use HD Photo, from snapshot photographers and general consumers to professionals?

BC: We designed HD Photo to address all of those needs. If there can be just one format which is the digital photo format and it has different ways it can be used for all the different users’ needs, that’s the real goal we’ve been going for with this.

We have believed for a while — and one reason I’m very much engaged with this whole community — that serious amateur photographers, prosumer photographers are potentially going to be an early adopter for this format. They understand the limitations of JPEG and they’re looking for better solutions. They tend to be an audience that’s ready to try out the latest new thing and learn about it and take advantage of it.

Maybe it’s the cell phone manufacturer who’s just making smaller files. If you can cut down the size of the file so the amount of bandwidth I use to transmit the picture over my infrastructure is cut in half, so the amount of battery power that’s needed to run the transmitter of the phone to transmit that file is cut in half, so the amount of time the user has to wait until their file is sent and they can send the next one or use the phone for something else is cut in half В… maybe that’s going to be one of the early adopters.

HD Photo and HDR Images

AB: Could you go back to what you were saying about high dynamic range and explain how HD Photo images might look to someone shooting in a format that is capable of high dynamic range?

BC: When a high dynamic range image comes out of my camera, it’s going to look just like the JPEG image. The difference is when I want to make a change to it.

I think there are all kinds of neat, innovative ideas that could be done. One of the things many photographers do today is shoot bracketed exposure sequences. They shoot a range of photos and Photoshop has this capability built in to build a real high dynamic range image. Well, the camera could potentially do that in the camera. I’m not a camera expert. I don’t know how to do this, but I imagine a camera manufacturer can probably invent ways to do this. When they open that shutter and expose that sensor, maybe they can capture that information multiple times at the sensor at essentially different ISO settings or actually just dynamically change the aperture and scan the sensor multiple times and essentially create a bracketed sequence, but go ahead and assemble that as high dynamic range data in the camera. HD Photo gives them a format that would make that possible, whereas JPEG certainly can’t do that, and RAW files don’t do that because RAW files are just the RAW sensor data.

I know we will have been successful with HD Photo when a camera manufacturer or a software manufacturer comes out with something that the format made possible that I never would have thought of. That to me is the big payoff.

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Samsung has announced a trio of new compacts in its NV (New Vision) series, upping the resolution in the range-topping NV20 to 12 megapixels with 8 and 10 MP sensors available in the NV8 and NV15. All three feature the same attractive styling and innovative ‘Smart Touch’ interface as before – albeit with tweaks. The NV20 is the first camera from Samsung to feature a new and improved image processing system – it will be interesting to see how that performs when the cameras arrive at the end of August.

Press release:

Samsung extends NV Series with 12 mega pixel camera

NV Series strengthened with launch of three stylish new digital compact cameras

30 July, 2007, London, UK – Samsung Cameras, leaders in innovation and digital imaging, is building on the success of the groundbreaking NV Series with the launch of three new premium compact cameras. Continuing the themes of innovative technology and user-friendly features, the new NV8, NV15 and NV20 also sport the stylish blue ring design which has become a trademark for Samsung quality and design in the digital camera market.

All three new models in the NV Series include Samsung’s award winning Smart Touch User Interface which has now been further enhanced for easy and convenient control – a gentle touch is all it takes to navigate menu items, change the camera settings, or view your pictures. Samsung’s new NV models also include improved processing technology which allows faster operation of functions within the camera’s ultra-thin stylish bodies. Improved functions include, faster processing of images and improved noise reduction. Other developments include faster Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) to 0.7 seconds, advanced noise reduction which supports up to ISO 3200 and a new local contrast control which enables the camera to compensate the brightness of a shadowed subject in backlit conditions for even better results.

“Samsung Cameras award winning NV Digital Camera range has set the benchmark for quality and innovation. With new improved processing technology and enhanced features the NV8, NV15 and NV20 build upon this success. Quite simply our new NV cameras ensure photographers of all levels can enjoy taking high quality images they can be proud of” said Robert King, Commercial Director, Samsung Cameras UK.

NV20
The NV20 is Samsung’s first 12 mega pixel compact camera featuring Samsung’s improved processing technology combined with features such as a 3 x optical zoom lens, Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) and Red-eye fix to deliver optimum image quality to all photographers. The sleek NV20 also offers additional functionality such as TV quality MPEG-4 VGA (640×480) 30 fps video recording and a photo gallery function for convenient picture viewing with the Smart Touch interface. The NV20 boasts a 2.5” LCD screen, a multi-charging system and it comes with a rechargeable battery.

NV15
With 10 mega pixels and a 2.5" wide-view LCD, the NV15 provides brighter, sharper, more detailed images. Coupled with Samsung’s unique Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) system, the NV15 enables you to take clearer pictures indoors or in lower light conditions. The NV10 also features TV quality MPEG-4 VGA (640×480) 30fps video recording. The NV15 comes complete with a rechargeable battery and can also be charged via USB.

NV8
Functioning as a high resolution 8 mega-pixel digital camera, the NV8 is a stylish yet practical device sure to attract the next generation of digital photographers. With both Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) system and Red Eye Fix technology the NV8 will produce stunning results for photographers of all levels. The NV8 with 3 x optical zoom is encased in a thin body and boasts the stylish black design in keeping with the NV Series. It also has powerful movie capabilities and a 2.5” LCD screen.

The NV20 is priced at £249, NV15 at £229 and NV8 at £199 and will be available from leading high street and online retailers from September 2007. All Samsung cameras also have a two year warranty included. Customers requiring further information should call 00 800 122 637 27 or visit www.samsungcamera.co.uk

Samsung NV8/15/20 specifications

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The Fujifilm Finepix A920 is a 9 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens and 2.7 inch LCD display.

It features SuperCCD HR sensor, 10 megabytes of internal memory, 15 pre programmed scene modes, movie shooting at 30fps, xD card slot (compatible with SD Cards) and 256 zone metering.

The FinePix Finepix A920 is powered by two AA batteries.

It will hit stores in September 2007 and will have a retail price of $199.95.

Fujifilm Finepix A920 News Release Fujifilm Continues To Offer Advanced Features On Entry-Level Digital Cameras With New A920

New A920 Model Wows with 9-MP, Super CCD, 4x Optical Zoom and 2.7” LCD

FUJIFILM U.S.A. Inc. today announced the launch of the nine-MegaPixel FinePix A920. Designed specifically for the first-time digital camera buyer and consumers seeking an affordable, easy-to-operate upgrade to their current digital camera, Fujifilm’s FinePix A920 is loaded with features usually reserved for more advanced models. The camera incorporates Fujifilm’s signature Super CCD sensor technology, a 4.0x optical zoom lens and features a 2.7” LCD.

Following in the footsteps of Fujifilm’s more advanced digital cameras, the FinePix A920 features a 4.0x optical zoom lens that was developed specifically for the A-Series by Fujinon, a Fujifilm sister company and leading provider of broadcast-grade television lenses and other high quality optical products across many consumer and industrial applications.

To make it easy for consumers to achieve blur-free results, the FinePix A920 features a “Picture Stabilization” mode in the dial setting. This easy-to-identify setting automatically chooses the correct light sensitivity and best-matching shutter speed, producing the highest quality digital pictures without blur and the noise often associated with high sensitivity photographs. In addition, the FinePix A920 shoots with light sensitivities of up to ISO 800 at full resolution. These higher light sensitivities enable the user to shoot with faster shutter speeds, which lessen the likelihood of blurry pictures caused by a moving subject or the shake of an unsteady hand.

The FinePix A920 also features an intuitive icon-based Graphic User Interface (GUI). When users switch shooting modes, scene positions or control settings, a brief explanation of the setting is momentarily displayed on the LCD screen, taking much of the guess work out of digital camera operation. Additionally, the camera sports a conveniently placed mode dial that provides easy access to the most commonly used shooting modes, including Auto, Picture Stabilization and Movie mode and allows one-touch access to other pre-programmed scene modes.The FinePix A920 also utilizes an “xD / SD / SDHC Media Compatible slot”; a single media slot that accepts not only Fujifilm’s traditional xD-Picture Cards™, but also SecureDigital (SD) and SDHC media cards. In offering these media options, Fujifilm is providing greater choice and flexibility to consumers who purchase Fujifilm digital cameras.

Fujifilm’s new A920 model also offers the following attractive features: * Large LCD: 2.7-inch LCD display with anti-glare properties. * Scene Modes: A wide range of 15 pre-programmed scene modes provides top-quality photos in a range of shooting conditions. * Movie Mode: Capture live action movies in QVGA quality 640×480 resolution at 30 frames per second with sound. * Internal Memory: When the xD-picture card or SD memory card (sold separately) is filled with images, users have extra internal storage space on each camera to capture additional pictures. * IrSimple™ Technology: Demonstrating Fujifilm’s commitment to innovation, ‘IrSimple™’ enables mobile devices – like the FinePix A920 – to instantly and wirelessly connect and transmit digital images to other IrSimple™ enabled devices such as other digital cameras, PDAs and photo kiosks. It provides a faster, more secure means to share pictures with family and friends.

The FinePix A920 will debut in September 2007 with a retail price of $199.95.

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