Rangefinder Magazine
June 2002

Digital Photography by John Rettie

The future of photography is digital as seen in this scene at NAB—soon we’ll be surrounded by many LCD screens displaying video and still images as photographers become producers of stories.

WHEN I ATTENDED the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas in April I did not expect to come away with what I and many others think is a vision of the future of still photography. After all, this was where the latest in video equipment was being displayed, not still cameras.

Quickly I learned that one of the “buzz words” at NAB was 24P. It stands for 24 frames per second, progressive scan.

What it means is that the latest digital video camcorders from companies such as Sony and Panasonic can capture images at 24 frames per second in progressive mode, where each frame is a complete image. This happens to match the speed of traditional 35mm movie (film) cameras. Regular NTSC TV video camcorders capture images at 30 frames per second in an interlaced mode. In actuality the camcorders are capturing 59.94 half frames per second that are combined (interlaced) to produce 29.97 (to be exact) frames per second.

George Lucas shot the latest Stars Wars movie in digital rather than film and many independent movies are now being shot digitally. At NAB Sony went so far as predicting that half of all movies will be shot digitally by 2005. It’s a statement that many industry pundits have difficulty swallowing, but Sony has a vested interest, as it has several high-dollar video camcorders that can record at 24 fps and produce images that are as good or better than traditional 35mm movie film.

It’s obvious that Kodak and film processors have to be quivering in their boots as it looks as though the movie industry will be switching to digital quicker than many thought possible.
Those who are aware of the history of digital cameras will know that the earliest usage of digital capture devices (CCDs) was in video cameras. Quality cameras were very expensive and were used by TV stations for news gathering and live broadcasting. More affordable CCDs appeared in consumer level camcorders but quality was limited, as VHS tape was not capable of capturing much information. Early still cameras with decent quality were extremely expensive ($50,000 and up) and only usable in still life studio shoots. Gradually as CCDs in video cameras improved, the same chips began to appear in low-end consumer cameras but the quality has never been good enough for professional or high-end amateur use.

In order to meet the more demanding requirements of still photographers, chip manufacturers started producing CCDs made especially for still digital cameras. We are now at the stage where CCDs for still cameras have way more resolution than is required by video cameras, at least for standard TV usage.

But now that the technology exists to produce cost effective high resolution CCDs, filmmakers along with producers of TV shows and TV commercials can start to think digitally, as they demand much higher quality.

That’s why Sony and Panasonic have introduced 24P cameras in order to meet this demand for film-like quality from video camcorders. It was fascinating to see the incredible quality produced by the newest video camcorders at the Sony display. These cameras contain three 2.2-megapixel CCDs, whereas a consumer camcorder might have just one 400,000 pixel CCD. Although I did not see it for myself, soon you’ll be able to alter the exposure settings and the white balance in different parts of the image by clicking areas on a preview screen. In theory each individual pixel is individually controllable so you can produce the ideal image from any scene. Imagine being able to balance highlights and shadows before an image is captured without resorting to complicated lighting setups.

Okay these video cameras are still very expensive but from a filmmaker’s point of view, initial cost does not matter as the savings in time and film costs are enormous. For example, a tape to hold 40 minutes of high quality video costs about $40 compared to around $5000 for 40 minutes of processed 35mm movie film.

Another reason for the increased interest in high quality digital video is that High Definition TV is on its way. This will enable consumers to see images on their TV screens that are more film like with a resolution of 1920x1080. It also means that all TV stations and TV production companies will have to convert to video camcorders producing these higher quality images.

Other interesting shifts noticeable at NAB included FireWire, which has been around for some time but is now catching on with professionals in the video and movie-making business. Panasonic displayed a collection of cameras and recorders all hooked together via FireWire cables. It all helps make video editing much easier and less costly. Independent movies are being made using Apple’s $999 Final Cut Pro video editing program, which is disturbing news for manufacturers of high-end editing systems that can still cost $50,000 to over $200,000. Apple had a large presence at NAB and its computers were seen at many booths, including Sony.

Another interesting tidbit is that a low cost way of capturing near film-like video is to use a European standard PAL camcorder that shoots at 25 fps, which is much closer to film speed than the 30 fps demanded by an NTSC camera. Until recently the only way of getting a PAL camcorder was on the gray market. However Canon, Sony and other manufactures realized there is a demand for the better quality PAL camcorders so they have been quietly importing them in small numbers through their own official import channels.

What you ask does all this mean to still photographers? As the need for high quality CCDs producing high-resolution video images grows it will inevitably be more economical for the manufacturers to produce one chip to meet both needs. Foveon, for example, says its new three-layer chip is ideal for video capture as well as for still images. It’s already possible to capture individual frames off today’s digital video cameras, so it is easy to see the day arriving when one photographer will shoot events with just a video camcorder and still images will be captured later as needed. Photographers will be shooting with a 24 fps video/still camera most of the time.
This thought is a perfect segue into the next topic.

The Digital Journalist
For the past few years Dirck Halstead, the well-know former Time magazine photographer, has been shooting video instead of still images. He is so convinced that the future lies with video rather than still that he runs an organization called The Digital Journalist (www.digitaljournalist.org). Once a year he holds an intensive one-week course (called the Platypus Workshop) for still photographers that teaches them how to become videographers. His premise is that still photojournalists are telling stories with pictures and video helps them tell a better story.

In his opening remarks he described how opportunities for videographers were limited by the fact that there were only three TV channels not long ago and the cost of capturing and editing video was astronomical. Now there are hundreds of TV channels and thousands of web sites all looking for content. One person carrying a handheld camcorder with a laptop computer such as a Mac PowerBook and an editing program such as Final Cut Pro can now create video stories easily. What cost millions of dollars not long ago now costs under $10,000. “Any young person can do what a network with hundreds of people did only 30 years ago,” Halstead told the attendees jammed in a classroom at Brooks Institute’s new video/film campus in Ventura, CA. It’s called the democratization of film/video making.

Halstead points out that he started out with a 4x5 Speed Graphic as “you weren’t considered a professional photojournalist if you didn’t have one back then.”

I did not have enough time to attend the whole eight days of the course where 40+ still photographers from newspapers all over the U.S. potentially started a new career as videographers. These students would spend the week learning that being a videographer is different from being a still photojournalist, yet both are out there telling a story. For example, Halstead noted how a still photograph of two people arguing would have both of them in the same frame whereas a video would have two pictures alternating between the two subjects for maximum effect. He reminded the students that they are visual journalists not photographers.

In keeping with ongoing changes in photography, Brooks Institute of Photography now offers a BA course in Visual Journalism.

Photoshop 7.0 and Mac OS X
Just before I finished this month’s column I got a copy of Photoshop 7.0, the latest version of the all but indispensable professional digital editing program. There was a full review on the program in last month’s Rangefinder so I will only touch briefly on my initial experiences.

First off, I love the new healing brush and patch tools. It’s amazing how accurately both these tools manage to remove blemishes on a person’s skin or dust spots with the click of the mouse. Prior to this it took careful use of the cloning (rubber stamp) tool, as it was very difficult to get accurate colors and shading. Now one can choose areas to clone without worrying about the color or lighting as the tool just copies the texture from a good area even if it is in shadow. It’s possible to remove lines and creases in skin in no time at all.

Photoshop’s new patch tool is great for removing those wrinkles that so easily spoil an otherwise good photograph. Apologies to Hollywood actress Lori Morrissey for showing this not so flattering photograph during retouching!	Finally one can quickly look through images en masse with the new File Browser in Photoshop 7.0.

Another welcome feature is a decent browsing function. It opens up all images in a folder and produces thumbnails that can be rotated and marked in order of importance. It is then possible to save this information in a separate cache file that can stay with the folder for future use. In effect it’s a quick indexing method. Prior to this tool I have always used Graphic Converter to take a quick look at images before deciding which ones to open and edit in Photoshop. Browsing from within Photoshop should be a lot easier, once I get used to it.

An additional CD-ROM, containing an hour’s worth of tutorials describing the new features is included with Photoshop 7.0. The tutor is Deke McClelland who has written many Photoshop books. The three chapters on the CD-ROM are a sampling of the full DVD available from Total Training (www.totaltraining.com).

For Mac users, which is most of us, Photoshop finally runs under OS X. Unfortunately, all third party plug-ins will have to be upgraded to run under OS X so it’s still necessary to switch back to the Classic mode to use many scanners and specialized plug-ins and filters. Adobe provides both versions and they can be loaded and running at the same time so it is not so much of a problem as long as you have plenty of RAM memory.

FireWire Filmmaking is a book that describes how to use FireWire-enabled equipment for making movies.

Quick Book Review
FireWire Filmmaking
Venture into a bookstore and there are plenty of books on filmmaking, either for wannabe professionals or for home movie making. FireWire Filmmaking by Scott Smith (Peachpit Press, $39.99) takes a different approach. It looks at how small DV camcorders can be used to make movies and how FireWire cables can be utilized to hook cameras together and connect them to computers, recorders and storage devices. The book is aimed mostly at those who want to learn about hardware and even includes advice on using FireWire for networking and printing. A DVD-ROM included with the book has several short movies with behind the scene descriptions of how they were made. Sample software is also included on this disc, which can be played in a DVD player or on a computer.

John Rettie is a photojournalist who resides in Santa Barbara, CA. He has been using a camera as a professional for 32 years, a computer for 22 years, and has combined his knowledge of both for the past nine years. Readers can contact him by e-mail at john@johnrettie.com or by snail-mail c/o Rangefinder.