By
Mason Resnick
December 26, 2008
It's time for the traditional look back at the year in photography. It's been an interesting, often challenging year, full of technological advances, new products, as well as unprecedented access to great photography. Here's a brief look at the high and low points of 2008.
Photokina: It was a Photokina year, but thanks to instantaneous Internet information transmission, we knew it all several weeks before the show: The two video cameras (Nikon D90 and Canon EOS 5D Mark II)...an upgraded Leica M8.2 and a surprise Leica 37MP DSLR.
Megapixel madness led us to new levels of insanity...and DSLRs you probably can't afford. I'm not sure how many photographers will be able to afford a RED, the new "DSLR killer" that accepts Canon and Nikon lenses and starts in the $2,500 range for a 4.9MP basic camera module and goes up into the $50,000 stratosphers for a camera with a medium format 261MP sensor. Whoever still has enough money to play with such expensive toys, please raise your hand. I thought so Then there are the 50-plus megapixel monsters from Hasselblad and Leaf, and the new 37MP, 30x45mm Leica R9, all demanding 5-figure prices. Come on, people, these are cameras, not powerboats.
All about the photos: We also got some reminders that this is, ultimately, all about the pictures...a highlight of the year was the day Life put every photo it ever published on Google Image Search...but many stock photographers were derailed when Digital Railroad abruptly went out of business.
Adiós, amigo: Speaking of companies going bye-bye, Polaroid continues its slow fade-away. Next week, Polaroid's instant film production will cease, and last week it was announced that Polaroid had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, again...but Fujifilm is already filling part of the void by bringing its lineup of peel-apart instant films to the US. And yes, they're compatible with Polaroid camera backs!
"System compact cameras" became a bona-fide category, thanks to new intros from Panasonic, Sigma, Canon, Nikon, and Ricoh to create a high-end compact worth considering...meanwhile, low-end compact digital camera values dropped almost as fast as a typical 401(K) retirement plan...By the holidays, you could get some basic 8MP digital cameras for as little as $100.
Trying harder: While Nikon and Canon grabbed the major headlines, Pentax and Olympus kept busy. Olympus kept making tiny, innovative DSLRs and building its tough line of waterproof compact cameras, while Pentax, in the middle of a corporate restructuring under new parent company Hoya, delivered a handful of small, innovative cameras. Meanwhile, Sony introduced a 24MP, full-frame DSLR, signalling that they were getting serious about playing with the big boys. Will they have better luck than Minolta did as the traditional #3 camera maker? Time will tell.
Micro Four Thirds was announced among much hoopla, and the first model, the Panasonic G1, immediately became the most mis-categorized camera in history. A system compact with an electronic viewfinder, it was widely being hailed as the "world's smallest DSLR." Problem is, it's not a DSLR, because the reflex finder (the "R" in DSLR) was removed so it could be made smaller, and replaced with an electronic viewfinder (EVF). Ultimately, Micro Four Thirds may evolve into a bridge category between DSLRs and compact cameras. But it's early.
Pixel peepers were in hog heaven when DxO unveiled DxOMark.com, a site filled with objective image quality data which can be studied, torn apart, diced, sliced and analized so anyone who knows what the data means can really understand what's going on with their camera's sensor. In fact, we at Adorama were so excited, we got DxO's permission to use their data in future camera tests and articles. Geek out, dudes!
Geotagging, digital photo frames, wireless image transfer, Twitter pix: which will turn into indespensable tools, and which are passing fads? We don't know yet, but they were all the buzz in '08.
Needless to say, the financial meltdown of '08 has affected everyone. Several camera companies announced a slowdown in sales, and some have announced cutbacks. Canon recently announced it has suspended construction of a new camera factory. Let's hope the economy picks up next year.
Finally, 2008 started with the passing of my former boss, Burt Keppler. Many tributes have been written about him since, but one of the most touching came from the CEO of Hachette Fillipachi publications Jack Kliger, who announced at the Keppler memorial service that Burt's name would appear in every future issue of, Popular Photography magazine, where he worked up to a few weeks before his passing at age 87.
