Press Release
No. 34 / Cologne, September 2008
The trends at photokina 2008:
The future of digital image communication
On September 23 the world’s biggest trade fair for the photo and imaging
sector, photokina 2008, will open its doors in Cologne, presenting to its
visitors from around the world a new dimension of image communication,
from image capture to image output. Those who want to be, and stay, in
the picture should come to photokina and experience its innovations.
The change to digital technology that started about ten years ago opened the
door to a completely new world of images for the photography sector. In the
beginning the goal of digital photography was to replicate the high quality of
images that could be captured on film, but now the goal is to transcend the old
boundaries and achieve a completely new dimension of image communication.
Elements that previously did not belong together are now growing into a unity.
Trend 1: Photographs are becoming multifunctional
Whether they are used as an illustration to complete a document or as a single
glossy picture in an album, are carried around in a wallet or framed on the wall
— photos have become multifunctional. The information stored in these
images can be interpreted and used in many ways. They can be linked to
databases in order to obtain more information.
The image datasets from the latest generation of cameras, as presented at
photokina 2008, store not only data about all exposure parameters but also the
coordinates of where the image was shot. Through an integrated WLAN
module, photos can be downloaded directly into Internet albums. But that’s not
all: through the integrated WLAN technology, the camera can link itself to
databases that can, for instance, give information about the name of a building
in the photo, such as when it was built, what it is used for, and whether it is of
historical importance. The images can also be transferred onto other people’s
photokina
World of Imaging
23rd – 28th September
2008 in Cologne
www.photokinacologne.com
Contact:
Michael Steiner
Tel.
+ 49 221 821-3094
Fax
+ 49 221 821-3446
E- mail
m.steiner@
koelnmesse.de
Koelnmesse GmbH
Messeplatz 1
50679 Köln
P.O. Box 21 07 60
50532 Köln
Germany
Tel. +49 221 821-0
Fax +49 221 821-2574
info@koelnmesse.de
www.koelnmesse.de
Management:
Gerald Böse (Chief Executive Officer)
Wolfgang Kranz
Oliver P. Kuhrt
Herbert Marner
Dr. Gerd Weber
Chairman of the Supervisory Board:
Mayor of the City of Cologne
Fritz Schramma
Place of business and (legal) domicile:
Cologne - Amtsgericht Köln, HRB 952
cell phones so that the recipient can be navigated to the location where the
photo was taken. And there’s more: through the database, the photographer
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can not only find out where he is and what he has just photographed, he can
also find out if there are any other interesting buildings and sites near his
location, or where the nearest restaurant is.
Trend 2: Always say cheese? — intelligent face recognition
The recently added facial recognition camera technology is far more than a
complex tool for optimizing portrait photos. If at first the technique served to
define faces in images and to optimize their sharpness and exposure,
nowadays, the advanced techniques can not only recognize a large number of
people in a picture, but also distinguish them and interpret their expressions.
The camera can recognize if a person is smiling or frowning and can then use
this information to automatically take a picture of a person at the moment they
are smiling. More complex technologies can also recognize faces. If the person
in the picture has been allocated an identity, in other words a name, then any
subsequent photos of the same person can automatically be stored in a specific
folder under their name by the intelligent control system. Facial recognition not
only plays an important role when taking the photo. If checking a group photo,
for example, when the image is viewed, the facial recognition function can
quickly and reliably determine if all persons were captured optimally, if anyone
had their eyes closed or grimaced.
Trend 3: All together now — the networking of digital worlds
The greatest challenge of digital photography is the wide range of types of
appliances with which photos can be taken, displayed, transferred, received and
stored. Complex technologies and software are needed to ensure that all these
appliances can communicate and be integrated with one another without
problems. If one looks at the many types of large displays with different aspect
ratios, it becomes obvious how complex the technologies have to be to
optimally display photographs with varying numbers of pixels, aspect ratios
and storage formats. The digital technology can deliver the requirements, yet
only the software industry can produce the needed “nervous system” for the
successful combination of zeros and ones to optimally process images for as
many communicating appliances as possible. The tedious processes of
analogue transmission such as the one used by the traditional AV output of a
camera, through which the photo is transported on to the TV screen — where it
usually appears in disappointingly bad quality — is a thing of the past.
Through the standardized HDMI port, the photos now appear on the new
HDTV screens in optimal quality.
Trend 4: The kick after the click
Through digital image files, good results have become predictable. In addition
to adapting analogue image processing and printing techniques like dodging
and burning, filtration and retouching, the ability to manipulate at the level of
individual pixels enabled the development of new tools for influencing the
final images. “Morphing”, the technique that is used for the step by step,
seamless transition of photos into a panorama or a mosaic has been around for
a while now. For some time now, series of images with different lighting have
been combined into so-called HDR pictures with apparently remarkable subject
luminance ranges. Through new techniques and powerful image processing
algorithms, photos with varying focus points can be combined into images with
significantly extended depth of field. Photos can also be scaled so that even if
their aspect ratio is changed, the content of the image remains undistorted. This
is achieved through a new “seamcarving” technique which can produce
fascinating picture manipulation, without distorting the contents of the picture.
Photo motifs can be squeezed or stretched without giving the impression that
the picture has been distorted.
Many of the cameras being displayed at photokina 2008 will already have
powerful functions for post exposure image optimization integrated into them.
In addition to simpler functions like contrast optimization or retouching redeye
caused by flash, other functions are now also being offered that automatically
straighten distortions created by tipping and tilting the camera when
photographing architectural images.
Trend 5: “Green” energy and fuel cells for cameras
Digital photography is reliant on mobile energy. At photokina there will be a
range of alternative energy sources to be seen as well as rechargeable and
disposable batteries for camera and other types of mobile multi-media
appliances. In addition to environmentally friendlier primary and rechargeable
batteries, innovative energy sources based on solar and fuel cells will also be a
topic. Leading manufacturers from the camera and energy sector have
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registered patents for these innovations. Fuel cells, like the ones that are to be
integrated in digital SLR cameras can supply more energy for a larger number
of exposures.
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