The Portland Metro Photographic News

    A commentary by Tom Hubbard

    
Nikon's D3s and Canon's EOS-1D Mark IV

With Nikon and Canon's recent announcements of new, top-of-the-line professional DSLR cameras featuring a high-end ISO setting of 102,400, a question immediately comes to mind:  Do we need it?

Yes we do.  We need ISO 102,400 cameras because of what it represents to the continuing evolution of our most valuable photographic tool -- the digital camera.  So, taking pictures in near total darkness isn't important to you.  That doesn't matter.  It doesn't matter, because low-light shooting ranks last on my list of reasons why this advancement is important to photography.

ISO 102,400 is an achievement to be applauded because:

• It demonstrates Nikon and Canon's willingness to spend significant R&D dollars in response to the shooting requirements of their advanced amateur and professional customers.  Yes, someone is listening and responding to the customer.
  
• It signifies a recognition by both companies that image quality is not merely a function of megapixels, but, more importantly, the size and quality of each pixel.  Photographers realized long ago that 14 to 18 megapixels was sufficient for the bulk of their shooting requirements.
  
• It provides less "noise" at the more conventional ISO settings (i.e. ISO 100 to 12,800).
  
• It is an important milestone in the development of DSLR sensors with larger dynamic range.  Is there a sensor with a 13 stop dynamic range in our future?
  
• And, oh yes, it allows photographers to shoot under very low light conditions.

It appears that Nikon and Canon might be abandoning the megapixel race in favor of technological sanity.  Kudos to both companies' engineering and marketing departments.  The continual improvement of the quality of digital images is a customer-focused strategy that will lead to long-term corporate gains and ensure the prosperity of our industry.

The Nikon D3s and the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV cameras are expensive and beyond the reach of most photographers.  But that's OK for now.  As we've seen throughout the development of the 35mm SLR in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and now the DSLR, technological breakthroughs appear initially at the professional end of the spectrum but soon filter down to the rest of the camera family.  We wlll all eventually reap the rewards of the unrelenting corporate competition that drives Canon and Nikon's R&D programs.

Any time a digital photography milestone is achieved, we realize that anything is possible.  For our craft, that translates to: "the best is yet to come."

Now, if we could just get Canon to shorten the names of their cameras.