[Leica] Meta Photokina

[imx <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

A language that is used to discuss about language is called a meta-language,
a kind of higher level tool. While the current Photokina will undoybtedly
generate a range of new products, mostly digital, we can sit
back and reflect a bit. Two apparently disconnected events are the official
discontinuation of the Nikon F3 and the new Ilford Delta400. One is a
statement that the analogue era is over, the other one states that there is
much confidence in this analog thing. Some facts: recent figures in germany
show an increase of the sales of all cameras from 1.16 to 1.27 billion Dmrk.
The digital segment increased from 14% to 26%, almost twice, with sales
volume at 0.4 billion Dmark. With this rate, one can safeley predict that in
a few years from now of every two pictures,  one will be shot with a digital
camera. As with mobile telephones, the trend is that the camera will be free
in a few years and that you only pay for the services, that is sending the
digital image over the net and printing it somewhere.
The imaging industry will boom, no doubt. Free digital cameras are as
realistic as free mobile phones now. What counts is the service not the
tool. 
Who will be the losers? First of all the collectors of classical cameras. As
new generations of imaging guys do not know and do not care to know that
there was once in a time a Nikon F or a Canon F1 or a Leica Ic, interest in
these products will stop when the current generation of collectors dies, who
still know these products from personal recollection.
The second loser will be the current digital product. It is amazing to see
what the industry dares to offer the public in this respect. A camera with a
built-in CD writer (Sony), a camera with built-in audio recording etc. The
industry as a whole has lost its track. And the design is as ugly as one
dares to imagine. The designer Giorgio Giugiaro said recently that the
outward expereince of a tool reflects its inner genius of functionality.
Compare an M6 with an Olympus Camedia (newest Photokina release) and you
know what I am talking about.
The transition from analog to digital will be more painful than in the audio
world and it will take longer. But it will take place.
As has been noted: digital presents a challange to analog and the outcome is
not yet predictable. If however the trends do indicate anything: it is this:
without a dedicated fight, analog is the loser. As consumers we have the
final decision. But the game is set already. Every person who now scans his
analog images and prints them on an inkjet printer, will be completely
digital in 5 years time. The hybrid road is a no-brainer! If the end product
is digital, the full imaging chain will be digital. It is more convenient,
it is cheaper, it brings the  results one needs and all companies, from
Kodak to Fuji, bet on the digital chain.
What is left: a few individuals, who will recall with nostalgia, that once
upon a time in the past, people used a strange device to record personal
images that  took days to generate a paper image that was not manipulated by
computer software and could not be attached to an email and sent instantly
to the grandparents.

Erwin