Thinking about this today.
Imagine a digital camera that can take 30fps, say 3 megapixel images. Best autofocus available today. Unlimited storage. Or a digital videocam which captures 2-3 MP frames.
You would not need sports photographers anymore. Just keep the camera trained on the action. The autofocus would keep the point of interest on the action, and you could select the exact frame you wanted at leisure a bit later.
The idea is not new, of course. It's what I was doing way before the first digital still camera was born. Capturing video on a computer and selecting the exact frame I wanted, the one with the "Oomph!". "The Decisive Moment", selected from a series of frames. Missed it? Just rewind and try again.
Problem was artifacts from interlacing, and the poor 320x200 resolution of captured analog video (OK, can interpolate to 640x400, but still quite lousy).
But I would say that, easily, within the next 5-10 years, it would be possible (and affordable, at that). Then you would just have to find enough time to go through the Gigabytes or Terabytes of stored memories to pick the ones you want to preserve.
For B&W street photographers, I'm sure the ideal digital camera can already be built with available technology. I'm talking about a digital B&W camera. Think about it. No need for colour processing, mosaic or otherwise. The CCD or CMOS just detects light, and the intensity of light. I'm sure ISO 3200 or even 6400 is easily achievable if the camera only recorded grayscale. Problem is - who would buy it, except people like me? So, nobody makes one. *sigh*
Imagine a digital camera that can take 30fps, say 3 megapixel images. Best autofocus available today. Unlimited storage. Or a digital videocam which captures 2-3 MP frames.
You would not need sports photographers anymore. Just keep the camera trained on the action. The autofocus would keep the point of interest on the action, and you could select the exact frame you wanted at leisure a bit later.
The idea is not new, of course. It's what I was doing way before the first digital still camera was born. Capturing video on a computer and selecting the exact frame I wanted, the one with the "Oomph!". "The Decisive Moment", selected from a series of frames. Missed it? Just rewind and try again.
Problem was artifacts from interlacing, and the poor 320x200 resolution of captured analog video (OK, can interpolate to 640x400, but still quite lousy).
But I would say that, easily, within the next 5-10 years, it would be possible (and affordable, at that). Then you would just have to find enough time to go through the Gigabytes or Terabytes of stored memories to pick the ones you want to preserve.
For B&W street photographers, I'm sure the ideal digital camera can already be built with available technology. I'm talking about a digital B&W camera. Think about it. No need for colour processing, mosaic or otherwise. The CCD or CMOS just detects light, and the intensity of light. I'm sure ISO 3200 or even 6400 is easily achievable if the camera only recorded grayscale. Problem is - who would buy it, except people like me? So, nobody makes one. *sigh*