Cameras of the future

Ive done a lot of thinking recently, about whats next for photography.

Think about it  while the manufacturers launch new cameras every couple of months, there hasnt been a single fundamental change in the art of photography since the mid-1960s, when through-the-lens lightmetering on SLR cameras meant that you didnt have to have a separate light meter anymore.

So, I wonder, whats next?



A lot of other things have happened since then, of course  flashguns have become more advanced, lenses have become sharper, and theres that little thing called Digital. But ultimately  its all progression from old technology: Better flashguns are merely flashguns that have more functions and are more intelligent than old flash guns. Sharper lenses are simply, er, sharper.

Digital might be the biggest change, in that you can store hundreds  even thousands  of photos in your camera, rather than the 24 or 36 you were limited to before that, but the digital medium itself is really just a progression from capturing light on silver halide, just like we did in the days of film.

The next 50 years

If there have been no big changes in the past 50 years, then what does the next 50 hold for us photographers?

The evolution  rather than revolution  is benefiting everybody who is passionate about photography: More and better cameras are available, more cheaply than ever, and the Internet is helping photographers of all ages and skill levels to improve (through feedback sites like PhotoSIG and Deviant Art) and sell (through companies like PhotoStock Plus) their photography.

The big question in my mind  what is the next big change in photography? Gadget magazine T3 claims that the future is panoramic photography (disclaimer: I work for T3), which I can kind of see  while panoramic photography in itself isnt anything new, next-generation technologies can make panorama taking a lot easier  and now that we have ways of showing off panoramic images in a sensible way (through, say, CleVR), perhaps thats where the next big development will come from.

No new technology in sight

On the other hand, panoramas are just another development (and a rather small, niche subject in the world of photography) in the grander photographic world. You could argue that new genres of photography are progress (say, the rekindled interest for macro photography and smoke photography), but ultimately, its just other ways of using photographic techniques that have been around for scores of years.

The only genuinely new addition to photography itself is strictly part of post-production, but high dynamic range imaging (HDR photography  read more on Wikipedia) deserves a special mention, because it uses digital darkroom techniques in combination with a novel way of using current photographic techiques to create an entirely new genre.