The trends at photokina 2014 Experience the future, todayEvery other year, anyone wanting to get an idea of the future of photography joins with industry experts from around the world in a pilgrimage to Cologne. This year as well, from 16-21 September 2014, the World of Imaging flagship trade fair will again be offering its visitors a comprehensive perspective on tomorrows worlds of imaging.
There is scarcely another medium that is developing at such breakneck speed and so revolutionising human communication as photography, 175 years young this year. From the Daguerreotype to video glasses with automatic dioptre adjustment based on light field technology, photography has constantly reinvented itself, expanded its boundaries and developed its social significance. Whether still image or video, recording devices have become more multifunctional, handling ever more tasks with only one device. Imaging products for the consumer market deliver professional quality. Buzzwords such as 4K, WiFi, GPS, Curved Sensor, CGI etc. are now part and parcel of consumers daily lives. There is scarcely any area of human endeavour where imaging processes dont play a role in some way or other. That is why photokina, the industrys leading trade fair held in Cologne every two years, encounters such keen visitor and media interest, not just from a technical perspective but from a social one as well. This year once again it will exert an influence that will critically shape our view of the future.
The focus is not just on innovative image capture processes but also on image editing, archiving, presentation, use and forwarding. Whereas the early years of photography were first and foremost about realistic representation, today it is also about processes for creating artificial image worlds such as Computer Generated Imaging for conjuring realistic looking fantasy worlds.
The dawning of a new world of images
Where before the saying was a picture speaks a thousand words this expression could now be modified with light field technology in mind to a photograph contains a thousand pictures.
Light field photography is one of the most important trend topics at this years fair that promises to trigger a paradigm shift similar to the introduction of digital technology into the World of Imaging. It no longer just depicts subjects in two dimensions but the entire space captured by the lens because of the additional capture of the direction of the light rays falling on the sensor. Recorded images can thus become experienced interactively. Subsequent changes of perspective, extended acuity or 3D presentations are only a small selection of the numerous possibilities afforded by this technology, which has finally made it out of scientific research laboratories into cameras for the consumer market. The ability to focus images after the fact now also provides the technical prerequisites for using light field technology to achieve dioptre adjustment in the case of video glasses or display 3D photos or Living Pictures on the smartphone. It imbues images with an interactive component while at the same time making it possible to design compact, high-luminosity lenses with fewer components. (Lytro Illum, Light-field camera for professional and semiprofessional use, Hall 5.2 Stand D006)
Camera innovations for every sensor format
The triumphal procession of the smartphone as the .camera you are never without has confronted camera manufacturers with fresh challenges and led to the discovery of camera niches addressing the particular needs of specific user groups. The trend is away from the everymans camera for every occasion to the appropriate recording device for individual users and specific tasks.
The question whether a smart phone with built-in camera affords sufficient creative scope or enables satisfactory image quality becomes obsolete as of photokina 2014. There will be cameras with smart phone operating systems with large sensors, high quality, versatile lenses and excellent telecommunication attributes just as there will be smart phones with outstanding cameras. The new category of compact cameras with a smart phone is entering the market on a broad front.
Photography with a system
The camera categories that are on the up include system cameras, which despite their significantly more compact design boast all the benefits of a DSLR camera. Here too all the important market players will expand their product portfolio with innovative models. There will be new models with high definition Four Thirds- (Olympus OM-D E-M1 with digital shift function, Halle 2.1, Stand B030), APS-C (Sony QX1L, Hall 2.1 Stand D020) and full format sensors both in the entry level and professional markets. Systems will also be extended with new lenses (Fujifilm X, Hall 4.2,) and innovative accessories (Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 1,4x Teleconverter). WLAN, WiFi and NFC interfaces will enable wireless remote control of the cameras as standard and also handle the image transfer without any cable connection.
New DSLR cameras for compact and medium format
In digital photography the 24 x 36 sensor format was long held to be the optimum for professional photography. It combines the flexibility of a relatively compact body with the required picture quality for professional applications. What initially struggled as a compact format to establish itself as a quality standard in analog photography became the full format in the digital world. There will be new full format cameras at photokina not just for professionals; this sensor size will make its way into in the entry level segment as well (Nikon D750, Halle 4.2).
Miniaturisation is the enduring trend in technical product development. More compact and handier models are also in vogue in the medium format digital camera arena (Pentax 645 Z, Ricoh Hall 2.2). Sensors with resolutions of the order of 50 meg
