Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/04/21

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Subject: [Leica] Re: High quality photos
From: lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin)
Date: Sat Apr 21 08:16:36 2007
References: <200704210516.l3L5G8BC001116@server1.waverley.reid.org>

On Apr 21, 2007, at 1:16 AM, Tina wrote:

> I wish, Harrison, but they don't seem to care about resolution or
> quality any more.  Have you seen the grainy, awful video grabs they
> are using on the front page?  And even photos shot off of the TV and
> credited in the byline to the TV station!!  What an awful mess!

Tina,

Don't overestimate the demand for high quality imaging. Ninety five  
percent of all photos are never enlarged to greater than 4x6" size.  
Average TV viewing with screen images of less than 1 mb resolution  
exceeds 6 hours a day. The demand for HDTV is underwhelming. The only  
thing propping it up is the Super Bowl and the fact that the  
government has mandated that all TV broadcasting will soon be HDTV  
digital. Even when that occurs, many viewers will buy cheap set top  
converters to continue to use their analog TVs. My daughter's former  
TV station (non-unionized) issued consumer grade camcorders to  
reporters to catch fleeting news stories. A viewer survey showed that  
most TV fans could care less about image quality. They even put cell  
phone video on the air. YouTube, with low resolution 10 fps video is  
the greatest marketing triumph since sliced bread. And my old  
newspaper, the Boston Globe, published my 4x5" Speed Graphic  
masterpieces behind a 65 lpi screen. Nothing changes - it's the image  
content, not the quality, that makes the news.

The only people that care about image are Leica fans and National  
Geographic readers. It's tough being in the minority.

Larry Z


Replies: Reply from bjq1 at mac.com (Bernard Quinn) ([Leica] Re: High quality photos)