Rangefinder Magazine
June 2005

Click Here for printable version of this article.

Digital Photography by John Rettie
Was NAB More Exciting Than PMA?

Apple Computer’s booth at the NAB show in Las Vegas drew large crowds each day as the newest version of Apple’s Final Cut Pro was being demonstrated.

After the annual PMA show earlier this year, the general consensus seemed to be that the show lacked excitement because there were no really significant new cameras or photo equipment unveiled.

Undoubtedly, part of the reason is maturation of the digital camera market with cameras having become somewhat similar in features and quality.

It was quite a different atmosphere a few weeks later at the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas. Touted as the world’s largest gathering of electronic media, it was a veritable goldmine of new products and advanced technologies.

In many ways the association’s name has become misleading: The event caters to a far broader spectrum of people than just the broadcast crowd. While the products are still geared to video and sound capture, the attendees come from film, broadcast media and event arenas. For example, I was surprised to learn that church videography has become a big business. Likewise, the field of wedding and event videography has grown.

It’s no wonder these fields have grown—the price of entry for production of professional video has dropped, while the quality has jumped substantially. In many ways the recent changes have been more dramatic for video than they have been for still photography.

Although High Definition TV (HDTV) has been the buzzword for several years, it has taken a while to arrive. Part of the reason is because broadcasters have an enormous investment in traditional equipment that has not yet been amortized, so they have been reluctant to spend the money to switch from what’s now know as SDTV (Standard Definition TV) to HDTV. With no real increase in income to offset the expense, it’s been difficult for them to justify the cost of top-notch HD camcorders and the associated computer infrastructure. Indeed, for traditional broadcasters the costs are still pretty high, as they need to integrate new equipment into current workflows and studio setups.

Newcomers in video, however, have the ability to purchase HD camcorders for under $10,000 and use software-editing programs on good PCs or Macs. It’s literally possible to create a full production setup for under $15,000. Digital HD is democratizing the world of film and video.

I realize most wedding and portrait still photographers are not involved in videography. However, I believe as HDTV catches on, there will be a growing demand from the public for high-quality video of functions and events. Aside from this, there will be even greater demand for video from news organizations. Streaming video will become ubiquitous on the Internet, and local newspapers will want to provide their own HD video of events in order to compete with traditional TV stations. Because of this, young people getting into photography are more likely to enter the field of videography than still photography as the demand grows. Video is no longer the domain of companies with large budgets such as network broadcasters and Hollywood studios.

Consequently, I think it is wise for still photographers to think about offering video services as well as still. Even if you don’t want to get involved yourself, it’s still worthwhile keeping abreast of developments. Incidentally, at the recent WPPI conference I met a young wedding photographer who currently offers both services. Obviously she does not shoot both at the same time, but she told me she chooses one or the other medium depending on the needs of the client. She will then use her assistant to shoot stills if she’s shooting video. I’d love to know how many Rangefinder readers currently offer both still and video services.

Anyway, back to NAB… Apple got the event off to a rousing start when it introduced the latest version of Final Cut Pro, which is fully capable of editing digital video files for cinematic productions in real time. The newest suite includes professional sound editing software as well, and Apple showed several film clips on an enormous screen that were as crisp and detailed as anything you’d see in a movie theater. Even more impressive was the real-time editing being performed on a G5 Mac computer.

It didn’t go unnoticed by the large crowd that Panasonic chose to unveil its newest camera for the first time at the Apple event, just a couple of hours before its own event. The Panasonic AG-HVX200 DVCPRO HD P2 handheld camcorder records in both HD formats (1080i and 720p) onto solid state memory as well as onto tape. Gasps of amazement were heard when the price of $5995 was announced. The camera will not be available until late fall, but it was certainly the buzz of the show as it promises to deliver film-like quality in an affordable camera.

The other buzz phrase bandied about at the show was also introduced with much fanfare by Apple. It’s a new industry standard method of video compression called H.264. According to Apple, it allows one to capture video at the highest quality and easily resample it for lower quality playback hardware such as regular TV sets and even mobile phones.

Panasonic’s new $5995 AG-HVX200 HD camcorder created great enthusiasm at NAB.

During the NAB show, there were crowds around new cameras, impressive new monitors and digital projectors that can display HD video. NAB also hosted one of the first public showings of a new holographic storage medium that promises to deliver storage of 300GB on a single CD-sized disc within a few years.

Even if you never get involved in videography, the new technologies being developed for the video industry will certainly help deliver products beyond camcorders that will also be useful for still photographers.

RAW or JPEG—
Encryption or Patent Problems
The different formats and compressions used in the video world are confusing even to those in the industry. Sadly things are not getting any better in the still world either. Readers who regularly frequent forums on the Internet are no doubt aware of the controversy surrounding Nikon’s RAW format (NEF) used in its latest D2X camera. Soon after the camera went on sale, Thomas Knoll, one of the originators of Photoshop and Camera RAW, opened a can of worms when he said Nikon was encrypting the white-balance information contained in RAW files captured by the D2X camera. He went on to suggest that Adobe wasn’t willing to take the risk of decrypting this data, as there might be legal copyright ramifications.

Openraw.org is a web site formed to discuss concerns among professional photographers around the world about the proprietary nature of raw files.

It turns out that most camera manufacturers encrypt or hide data in a RAW file making it difficult for third party companies to easily create software that can read and modify RAW files. Nikon is not the only one.

There are over 100 RAW formats, and new ones appear as soon as new cameras are introduced. As cameras go off the market, nobody will be surprised if newer versions of software from manufacturers will be unable to read older formats. This is naturally of great concern to many photographers who rely on raw formats to obtain maximum quality from their images. Will it make it difficult or impossible to open files in decades to come?

Adobe announced a standardized raw format called DNG last year. It naturally would love for this to be adopted by all camera manufacturers, as it would make its job much easier if Photoshop didn’t need the capability to open all the incompatible RAW formats on the market.

Camera manufacturers, on the other hand, seem to be reluctant to adopt a standard RAW format as it will restrict their ability to add new features as camera designs change. It’ll also take away potential differentiating features between competing cameras.

A group of professional photographers have gotten so concerned about the lack of openness in RAW formats that a web site (www. openraw.org) has been created to air concerns and try to create a viable solution to please all parties.

It’ll be fascinating to see if manufacturers maintain their hold on the content of RAW formats or whether public pressure will encourage them to open up the structure of the content so third-party software publishers can more easily create programs to garner the maximum benefit from the data contained therein.

Of course, many photographers shoot in jpeg, which avoids the RAW problem. Unfortunately even jpeg, which is an open standard, is under fire at present. Forgent, a company that holds numerous patents, is busily suing camera manufacturers and even companies such as Microsoft, claiming that Forgent holds the patents to a key component of jpeg’s compression algorithms. So far Forgent has collected over $100 million in one-time royalty payments from companies around the world. Hopefully, the case will end up in court and be thrown out. On the other hand, the term of the disputed original patent expires fairly soon, so jpeg will probably survive as a viable standard.

Quick Book Review:
Real World Camera Raw
I’m pretty sure everyone would use RAW files if there was less effort required to process them after capture. While each camera manufacturer provides software that can process RAW files on a computer after capture, they often leave something to be desired in terms of workflow. They can be complicated and/or slow. Worse yet, they are not integrated into Photoshop. Third party RAW conversion software can be a viable alternative but for many, the only satisfactory answer is using the Camera RAW plug-in that’s been part of Photoshop since the CS edition came out last year.

Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS (Peachpit Press, 236 pages, $34.99) helps the reader understand what’s involved with a comprehensive description in layman’s terms of what goes on in a digital camera after an image is captured. The book then describes how one can utilize Camera RAW without going crazy with big files and a more complicated workflow.

Essentially, when you’re shooting in RAW, the photographer has to become the “film lab” after the images are downloaded to a computer. When shooting in jpeg mode, the camera does the processing automatically.

The book, written by well-known Photoshop author Bruce Fraser, describes ideal workflow scenarios that use the plug-in and Photoshop’s browser to maximum effect. It describes workflow techniques and tells one how to get the most out of images using Camera RAW. For example, there’s a description of removing chromatic aberrations and processing an image for highlights and shadows and then combining them to produce a better picture.

John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. He has been using a camera as a professional for 35 years, a computer for 25 years, and has combined his knowledge of both for the past 12 years. Readers can contact him by e-mail at john@johnrettie.com or by snail-mail c/o Rangefinder.