Is this the future of photography?

[Dr Gaspar]

Maybe they could just build a big and futuristic camera/computer with a few lenses, that captures video on HD on 360º, and then have a computer to edit and select the best frames, and another computer to post-process the selected images, and another computer to automatically print those images, and another to send those to an art gallery; so the robots could appreciate and enjoy the fine art of photography.

 

[Hamel]

You know what I am going to do? I am going to go out and pick this up and learn how to use it to better myself and my skills. While you all talk about why the future is bad and scary, I WILL be out getting hired to shoot the jobs you once had. It doesn't matter whether or not you LIKE or DISLIKE a certain technology but how you will adapt to it. Those who are too stubborn to embrace technology simply lose out and will go out of business. The same thing happened with the digital revolution. The old pros that came in kicking and screaming ended up losing business and had to play catch-up years later.

Pardon my ignorance but the majority of this forum seems to be 'older' hobbyists or semi-professionals stuck in the ways of shooting film. Time to wake up and at least acknowledge that you will hardly ever get hired to shoot a commercial gig with your 50 year old camera. This article, as with the entire blog, is geared toward professionals in the commercial and editorial world. Not toward people shooting with technically obsolete cameras. Instead of being excited for new technology it seems that the popular opinion on here is to shun it. I'm surprised that with this mentality ya'll are using computers instead of working with an abacus. It's purely mechanical with no batteries or electronics so it must be better...

*puts on flame suit*

 

[Colin Corneau]

Hamel - I think a few others have mentioned there's a sharp divide (as always has been) between working pros and hobbyists...nothing in the response to this article suggests otherwise.
My take is to not shun new developments for working professionals, but not to take this prognostication as gospel, either. You plot a curve of the change ahead, and I guarantee you it'll spike sharply -- but this guy has no better clue than anyone else.
I remember lots of guys taking up video and they're getting work they didn't otherwise...but a lot of the shine has gone off that idea, don't kid yourself.

Your attitude is a positive one but the way you express it is pretty narrow.

 

[Hamel]

I don't think that it will 'take over' but only add to an already increasingly demanding job of a professional photographer. Clients are already expecting the photographer to wear many hats and this is yet another. Or will this solve that by taking the photographer out of the job and allowing videographers to do our job? I'm looking forward to seeing where this will lead.

Edit:

I would really enjoy trying to shoot Street with this camera. Or any other HDSLR and pull frames from for that matter. I tend to find my composition and wait for something to happen rather than capture the random moment. This would allow me to set up the frame and when I anticipate something happening, shoot for a few seconds to find the 'best frame'. Maybe set up the RED or HDSLR on a tripod and then shoot with my Mamiya alongside it. Then I could pick from the two to see if I could capture the decisive moment better with the still camera.

Sorry for the narrow view, I enjoy playing devil's advocate.

 

[dave lackey]

You know what I am going to do? I am going to go out and pick this up and learn how to use it to better myself and my skills. While you all talk about why the future is bad and scary, I WILL be out getting hired to shoot the jobs you once had. It doesn't matter whether or not you LIKE or DISLIKE a certain technology but how you will adapt to it. Those who are too stubborn to embrace technology simply lose out and will go out of business. The same thing happened with the digital revolution. The old pros that came in kicking and screaming ended up losing business and had to play catch-up years later.

Pardon my ignorance but the majority of this forum seems to be 'older' hobbyists or semi-professionals stuck in the ways of shooting film. Time to wake up and at least acknowledge that you will hardly ever get hired to shoot a commercial gig with your 50 year old camera. This article, as with the entire blog, is geared toward professionals in the commercial and editorial world. Not toward people shooting with technically obsolete cameras. Instead of being excited for new technology it seems that the popular opinion on here is to shun it. I'm surprised that with this mentality ya'll are using computers instead of working with an abacus. It's purely mechanical with no batteries or electronics so it must be better...

*puts on flame suit*

So, who peed in your cereal?😛 Your ignorance needs pardoning, IMO.

Everything you mentioned above is the exact opposite of what I experience everyday as a professional photographer. Having used the latest Nikon DSLR's for the last 12 years, Leica M3 and Leica M4, I create my own work. Pre-orders for my current book are already signed. And to think this one was all produced with the Leica M3, an obsolete camera by an old photographer.🙄

Getting left behind? Ask Riccis or Damaso or many other professionals about being obsolete, old and being left behind.

As I have always told my students at Georgia Tech, please think before you speak. Absolutes are a slippery slope.

 

[Keith]

So, who peed in your cereal?😛 Your ignorance needs pardoning, IMO.

Everything you mentioned above is the exact opposite of what I experience everyday as a professional photographer. Having used the latest Nikon DSLR's for the last 12 years, Leica M3 and Leica M4, I create my own work. Pre-orders for my current book are already signed. And to think this one was all produced with the Leica M3, an obsolete camera by an old photographer.🙄

Getting left behind? Ask Riccis or Damaso or many other professionals about being obsolete, old and being left behind.

As I have always told my students at Georgia Tech, please think before you speak. Absolutes are a slippery slope.

Somewhere in between your post/opinion and Hamel's post/opinion lies the truth!

 

[inSIGHT]

In my opinion this is the future (or present) of advertising. But not photography. I can never get tired of looking at Ansel Adams' photographs for a reason... Because I know that behind each beautiful photograph was a story and a creative idea that I can relate to as a photographer and even as a human being. If Ansel Adams would have been shooting 96 frames per second... 1. I don't think they could have looked any better (and probably worse) and 2. The images would lose their character and importance to me. If people want to shoot 96 frames per second, go ahead, but it won't have my interest as there will be such a massive overload of still images surfacing that it will make me nauseous.

Same thing goes for video. After searching through 100 videos on youtube, maybe I would find one good video. But that isn't something I am interested, or willing to do.

Photography for me is all about capturing that "decisive moment" so to take that joy away would take away my interest in photography.

 

[DougFord]

Maybe they could just build a big and futuristic camera/computer with a few lenses, that captures video on HD on 360º, and then have a computer to edit and select the best frames, and another computer to post-process the selected images, and another computer to automatically print those images, and another to send those to an art gallery; so the robots could appreciate and enjoy the fine art of photography.

now there's an idea.
The fly in the ointment with the RED camera is it's only capable of one POV at a time.
You cull through the terabytes of data frantically searching for THE IMAGE, but none are found.
3 degrees to the right; you could'a been somebody.
Lightning can be caught in a bottle using an m3. 😉
In the right hands I'm sure this new technology will produce some incredible images as well.

 

[antiquark]

When someone emails me, "look at this picture," I always look. It only takes a second.

When someone emails me, "watch this video," I don't always look. It takes too long!

Video might be better... but who has the time?

 

[Ade-oh]

Pardon my ignorance but the majority of this forum seems to be 'older' hobbyists or semi-professionals stuck in the ways of shooting film. Time to wake up and at least acknowledge that you will hardly ever get hired to shoot a commercial gig with your 50 year old camera.

I think that is more or less exactly the point, except you need to understand that only a very small number of people who take photographs aspire to be 'professionals' and therefore have the commercial imperative to embrace each technological advance as it comes along. I suspect that most of us on this forum who still use old-tech film cameras do so because we enjoy it, not because we're necessarily blinkered old farts.

 

[sevo]

Time to wake up and at least acknowledge that you will hardly ever get hired to shoot a commercial gig with your 50 year old camera.

Most photographers get hired for the images they create - cameras are merely a tool, and much like carpenters do not get hired for a particular saw, photographers do not get hired for a camera. At least unless the latter is very odd and special indeed. If you ever get hired for a particular camera, it will not be small format (whether film or digital), and it is more likely to be a hundred years old than new.

 

[gyuribacsi]

Without any offend, I have predicted these changes in 2008 talking with an upcoming professional photographer for advertising and fashion.
Pan tha rey!
George

 

[bigeye]

Shrink the News truck

Shrink the News truck

All of you are wrong. 😉

There isn't much to debate to video vs. still for news. That's all been out for awhile, no? Digital doesn't have better quality than film, but it transports faster. What is advancing is telecomms.

My cell phone has faster up and down speeds than my home broadband connection and can tether 5 PCs. Basically, the news truck will shrink and multiply if everyone has a 5D that can tether directly to a producer/editor or client, who pays the bills and decides the content. The live feed is becoming much easier and cheaper to accomplish. Newsies plug into the stream to feed the beast.

But, that's just one differentiating segment of what was 'photography'. Fashion goes one way, journalism another, and art and hobby a different way.

- Charlie

 

[shadowfox]

Somewhere in between your post/opinion and Hamel's post/opinion lies the truth!

Really interesting way to put it.

😀