Rangefinder Magazine
December 2004

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The Future of Photography at Photokina by Ron Rich

Photokina is really the showplace for photography. It is held biannually at one of the largest tradeshow facilities in the world, Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany, which has over 200,000 square meters of exhibit space in 14 large halls, most of them two stories.

After the 9/11 attacks, international travel fell off by as much as 50 percent, and, like many major tradeshows, Photokina suffered. The reluctance to travel and economic downturn, among other factors, actually killed some tradeshows, such as Fall Comdex, the largest computer show in the world. Fortunately, the same didn’t happen to Photokina, but it did have an impact on it in 2002.

Things were getting back to normal this year. More than 160,000 people attended. Some 40,000 of them were directly involved in some form of professional imaging. International participation, which was particularly hit hard immediately after 9/11, picked up. This year, about two-thirds of the 1600 companies exhibiting at the show came from outside of Germany. The rest were local. The U.S. was the country with the largest representation, 123 companies, with Great Britain being close behind.

Photokina continues to be one of the most important shows, if not the most important show in photography, particularly when it comes to professional products. The number of new products and services being shown was amazing.

There were also a number of interesting trends evident. One important one was the continued climb of digital camera resolutions, all the way from high-end medium and large format digital cameras and backs to ultra fast high-resolution digital single lens reflex cameras to entry-level DSLR and consumer models. Until recently, medium and large format digitals were primarily intended for studio use. It’s finally getting to the point that they can be used as easily for fieldwork as for studio assignments.

One of the new high-resolution digital cameras with such dual use potential came from the newly merged Hasselblad and Imacon. The company introduced its new 22-megapixel medium-format H1D digital camera. In the studio the camera is connected to, and powered from, a computer. On location, images are stored in the company’s new Image Bank, which includes a 40GB hard drive, while power is pulled from a long lasting battery.

Another high-resolution digital back introduced at the show was Phase One’s 22 megapixel P25, a self-contained unit that, like the Hasselblad, can serve both as a studio and a field camera. It has 16-bit per channel image capture and supports the company’s C1 RAW workflow. It has its own power, and stores its images internally, on CompactFlash cards. Phase One also introduced the P20, a 16-megapixel version of the new back.

Also a good choice for location work is Sinar’s new f3, a compact model that’s a good choice for both film and digital work. With the unique Sinar setting technique, complex subjects can be photographed quickly and easily. Adjustments such as the depth of field, tilt and swing angles can be determined through corresponding scales.

Modular construction makes it possible to add optional extensions of the optical bench, as well as to use a variety of lenses and other accessories that are part of the Sinar system. With wide-angle bellows, it’s possible to use lenses with focal lengths as short as 28mm.

In addition to Hasselblad roll film magazines, the f3 will also take the company’s digital backs with the Hasselblad V connectors. The camera comes equipped with integrated contacts and electronic bellows that makes it possible to control the camera’s between the lens shutters, without additional cabling. With Sinar digital backs and the live focusing system, sharpness can be set on the sensor with pixel accuracy. Focusing can also be handled on the focusing screen.

Some of the biggest advances in serious digital photography have been made in digital SLRs. In spite of predictions by industry pundits at the last Photokina that digital SLRs’ resolutions had plateaued, they have continued to climb, to the point that they now rival medium format digital resolutions.

Canon has been coming on particularly strong with the release of one impressive camera after another in the last few months. It led the pace with the least expensive digital SLR, the Digital Rebel, a year ago. It also brought out the fastest digital SLR, the original high-speed, 8-megapixel, eight-frames-per-second 1D Mark II. Photokina was the first show that the company was showing its new 20D, which had been released about six weeks earlier.

And it was the first time anybody had the chance to take a closer look at the new 16-megapixel 1Ds Mark II, which is the highest resolution digital SLR available. The new Mark II doesn’t suffer from shutter lag, focusing hesitation or write delays. It can capture full-resolution images at up to four frames per second. With its advanced image processing, multiple data-write channels, sophisticated metering and refined focusing system, it’s a camera that can not only compete effectively with professional 35mm SLRs, it’s a camera that, in the right hands, could win. That’s saying a lot about a digital SLR.

Nikon also had a new digital SLR on display. It introduced the D2X, a high-speed model that’s somewhat smaller and somewhat lighter than the popular previous generation D1X.

Utilizing a Nikon DX-format image sensor, it can capture 12.4-megapixel images at the rate of four frames per second. It can even shoot faster, up to eight frames per second, when capturing images at a 6.8-megapixel resolution.

Both the Canon and the Nikon support the RAW image file format. Most of the other digital SLR cameras that were introduced at the show also support RAW file format capture. But most companies have their own proprietary RAW version. That makes file compatibility a problem. To overcome that, Adobe unveiled a new DNG (digital negative) file format, as well as support for more proprietary RAW formats through its Camera RAW plug-in. Some 65 RAW file formats from different cameras are now supported.

Leica came up with a totally new approach to the digital SLR. Instead of having different bodies for film and digital, it came up with the Digital-Modul-R system. With it, it’s possible to convert a regular Leica R8 or R9 into a 10-megapixel digital camera. The R8 and R9 had been designed with conversion in mind, so all the camera controls integrate seamlessly with the interchangeable digital back.

There were some new digital SLRs with interesting technology introduced. One was Konica Minolta’s Dynax 7D (known as Maxxum 7D in North America), the first DSLR with body-integral anti-shake technology. Rather than having its image stabilization system built into the lenses, as is done with some cameras, the 7D has an APS-sized 6.1-megapixel Smooth Impact Drive Mechanism (SIDM)-mounted CCD sensor that rapidly shifts position to counter camera movement.

The anti-shake technology responds extremely quickly to both common camera shake and the broad, slow swaying movements of the camera body, making it possible to shoot in much dimmer light situations than would otherwise be possible.

High speed image processing is provided by a dedicated LSI that ensures superior image quality, low noise and power consumption and responsive shooting. The camera comes with sophisticated CxProcess III images processing, which optimizes saturation, edge sharpness and contrast for high color fidelity. To complement the new body, Konica Minolta introduced two new lenses, an AF 17–35mm f/2.8–4 and a 28–75mm f/2.8.

Olympus added to its line of digital SLRs with the Evolt E-300, an entry-level model with an 8-megapixel CCD sensor that takes all of the company’s Four-Thirds system lenses and accessories. It has a unique internal mirror system design that eliminates the bulky pentaprism characteristic of SLRs. It also has sophisticated dust reduction technology and an interesting flash mechanism that slides forward as it pops up.

Fuji was showing its S3, which is just about ready to ship. The S3’s SuperCCD SR sensor delivers 12-megapixel images that have the same output image sizes as the S2 Pro. It’s designed around the Nikon F80 body.

Epson, which has had some consumer digital cameras, but not professional models, is trying to break into the pro market with a new body. But, rather than bringing out a digital SLR, Epson introduced a rangefinder model, the R-D1, which has a 6.1-megapixel sensor. It takes Leica L- and M-series lenses.
The selection of lighting gear was extensive, with everything from small on camera strobes to remote controlled multi-light set-ups to massive studio lighting systems. Broncolor, for instance, brought out its latest power pack, the Topas A8 Evolution, which is the successor to the popular Topas A8 pack. Designed for large studio use, it has 6100 J (joules) power.

There were also some software announcements, but there were lot more updates than there were software introductions. Every so often, Microsoft makes a big push with the newest release of photo editing software. Photokina was one of those times. It was showing Digital Image Suite 10, which is actually quite a good all-around graphic and imaging package.

For image editing, it has a complete selection of adjustable tools and tool-sets, without overwhelming users with complexity. That gives experienced users the option to be as experimental as they want to be. It also has a number of auto fix-wizards that optimize images and correct common defects, automatically.
There’s even a batch-processing mode that makes it easy to make changes to groups of images. Digital Image Suite is not a professional image editing program, but it is the type of program that business people who use photography in their business will appreciate.

“Workflow” was one of the buzzwords at the show: workflow in taking pictures, workflow in organizing them and workflow in outputting them, both at the consumer level and at the pro level. There were several software packages that stressed optimized workflow for photographers. With thousands and thousands of high-res digital images being generated, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to manage electronic image libraries.

One program that’s trying to make it easier is Lexar Media’s Photo Mechanic 4 by Camera Bits. It allows photographers to download, caption and work with images extremely fast in both the Windows and Mac operating environments. It’s a very functional program with advanced image browsing, batch modification and metadata handling capabilities.

One major trend from Photokina doesn’t directly affect professional photography, but it will have a major impact on photography in general: the emergence of mobile imaging. Mobile imaging includes taking pictures with visually enabled cellular phones and personal productivity devices, as a mainstream application.

It’s been estimated that by the year 2007, more than one billion camera phones will have been sold, making mobile imaging one of the biggest trends in photography ever. There were numerous companies at the show displaying kiosks and other processing systems with wireless image transfer capabilities that make getting pictures from camera phones quick and easy.

Getting things into print is also getting easier and a lot quicker. With conventional high-end commercial printing, make-ready costs dictate that thousand of copies have to be printed to amortize the cost. With digital printing, make-ready costs are minimal, to the point that it becomes economically feasible to produce very short run, even one-of-a-kind projects.

That makes it possible to produce a coffee table book of a client’s wedding, or for a photographer to publish a limited edition book of his work. There were several companies that had short run printing equipment on display. Kodak, for example, had the NexPress 2100 at its booth, which can be used to create calendars, books and a variety of promotional materials on demand.

It might be said that making things easier for photographers at any level was the underlying theme of Photokina.

Ron Rich is a writer/contributor to NewsWatch Service in the Los Angeles area.