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New Developments; (scroll down for original article.)
A Blog of sorts as we move further into the "digital convergence"
    
07/06    We support Blu-ray
06/06    Digital files shot at up to 39 mega pixel
01/06    Upgraded Computer Network & RAW processing
03/05    Expanded Output capabilities
02/05    Web image review from shoot location, nearly real time.
12/04    New 16.7mega pixel system acquisition
Fall 2004   16.7MP System announcement
Summer 2004   Move from Film to Digital begins
2002      Current state for Digital Capture vs Scanned Film
                         scroll down to read each of these

JULY 2006: The new battle between the next generation of optical media standards has begun. We have been watching the new heavy weight battle over the new standard for optical media expected to replace DVD. This is between Blu-ray and HDDVD as formats for this new high capacity media. While the battle which has been compared to the VHS vs BetaMax battle of the '70s it may have much more at stake. Consumers will largely decide this battle by choosing which format to buy and rent movies for High Definition playback. Current DVD formats lack the capcity to play full length features in true HD (1080p). Toshiba & Microsoft are backing HDDVD and Sony & Pioneer are backing Blu-ray. The benefits of Blu-ray make it a clear winner for our applications, so no matter what the long term outcome of this marketplace competition we will be investing in Blu-ray.

What are the benefits of the Blu-ray choice? 2/3rds more capacity. The Blu-ray disc can hold 25Gb of information on a single layer disc (twice that on a dual layer disc). The HD DVD can only hold 15Gb, barely enough for a studio release HD movie. We plan to buy a PlayStaion3 game console this coming Xmas season mainly because it will include a built in Blu-ray disc player, and at about 1/2 the cost of a stand alone player. Next year (2007) as prices drop we will invest in Blu-ray disc burners for our office work stations. This will allow us to backup our huge project file directories onto fewer discs. We currently backup to dual copies of DVD-R with a capacity of approx. only 4.3GB. A single shoot may yield RAW files and processed TIFF files easily in excess of the capacity of a single DVD. We are rearchiving our CDs from 1996-2002 on to newer DVDs. We will also be rearchiving our DVDs to Blu-ray. This insures that the discs we store on site and off (in fireproof file cabinets) protects the work we produce for our clients for years to come. 

As a side note; if you are looking at buying an HD television because you want the best picture possible then be sure it will playback 1080P. Most sets available today do not support this resolution. More common is 720P and 1080i (which has been described as 540P). I was at Costco the other day and on close inspection I saw that all of their HD sets we're 720P. By comparison I was in a BestBuy with a wider offering and could see the superior quality on a 1080P vs the 720P, but of course this also requires a high quality signal source (DirecTv offers 1080P for a few channels, but requires a special receiver box.) The DirecTv HD Tivo (HR10-250) is only 1080i. All 1080P televisions offer HDMI input to allow upconverting of lower resolution sources. Not true 1080P, but as close as you can get from a non 1080P source.

What you may ask does this have to do with photography? Please read on, as we are in a period I call "the digital convergence" where all things related to media are becoming digital in one way or another and will interblend into forms that are less distinguishable then they once were. Everything I produce is or becomes digital. As such it can be printed on paper or presented on a monitor ( a monitor on your desktop, in your boardroom or your livingroom, perhaps on your cell phone or one day to you eye glasses. At Proshooter we embrace this convergence and try to take advantage of it for the benefit of our clients, leveraging the full potential of the image and the message.

JUNE 2006: Another leap in the new digital technology! As we wait to see if a 24MP replacement for our Canon 1Ds Mk II system (photo at top) will be announced this September we attended a seminar by a very small company that produces digital backs for new and existing medium format camera systems. These backs attach to the camera where a film cartridge would normally go. They offer the option of converting to high quality digital without replacing the entire system of professional bodies and lenses built up over many years. They offer resolution as high as 39MegaPixel!

In the past we have largely ignored this type of digital solution because the sensors in these backs tended to only cover the center of the image area, effectively doubling the focal length of our lenses (35mm becomes 70mm). This is a problem for shooting the very types of subjects a higher resolution camera would be the most benefit. Subjects shot with "long lenses" like portraits for example to not require this type of resolution. Wide view subjects such as architecture, automotive and aircraft interiors however can benefit from higher resolution.

When we first considered digital backs (way back 3-5 years ago) they were only 16-22MP, offering really no advantage over the system we currently use. The new backs, however now offer resolutions up to 39MP which by itself introduces a some limited benefit. However in combination with the software which drives this back allows live preprocessing of the RAW files to which a wide number of corrections and effects can be applied and previewed while the subject is in front of the camera. We recently saw a video of a shoot in which the photographer was forced to shoot a fashion catalog on a drizzly, overcast day. This would normally be a nightmare and a complete disaster, but the shooter using a digital back was able to apply a number of effects to the image in combination with his lighting which we're so dramatic that on the computer screen it appeared as if it were a sunny day. This of course requires the camera to be "tethered" to a computer, most typically a powerful laptop. The manufacture promises that the next release of the back and software will incorporate wireless technology cutting the cord between camera and computer.

The new 39MP backs also have significantly larger sensor coverage. They now cover almost 82% of the full frame width. Our 35mm based digital system has a full size sensor and can utilize the full width of a 16mm "Professional Class" lens, or even a 12mm "semi-professional class" lens. These translate to  96+ and 112+ degrees horizontal. A typical consumer "point and shoot" digital camera offers a wide angle view of only around 45-55 degrees (higher numbers mean wider view). But extremely wide angle lenses typically add curvature distortion, particularly at the edges. And all but the best pro lenses have terrible focus fall off and chromatic aberrations towards the edges of the frame as well. Much of this can be corrected by software, but this also introduces other complications (such as noise to name one). By contrast, our "SuperWide" medium format camera uses a special designed body with a permanently mount lens to offer 91 degrees of view. Not quite as wide as the 35mm based lenses, but it is a perfectly flat, distortion free view without the curvature and aberration problems. This is a remarkable camera/lens system. 82% of this view (the coverage of the digital back) is about 74.5 degrees, or about equal to a 24mm lens in a 35mm based system with a full sized sensor. Not as wide as the 16mm, but this offers a distortion free image at 39MP!

As to the cost. These digital backs price at around $30,000 each. I once dropped and destroyed a $600 film back while on a ladder. At $30K I would need insurance by the day to cover even the remotest possibility of such a disaster. At present our studio cannot make a business model for buying equipment in this price range, but we do have options to offer this cutting edge technology to our clients. Rentals of the backs are available to us for about $1500/week. With insurance and  overhead factored in we can offer this option to clients for an additional fee of $1950 per shoot, no matter if that shoot lasts a few hours or up to 5 days so long as the period falls within 5 continuous days (allowing us to ship, inspect and return the equipment). We already own both medium and large format cameras and lenses compatible with these new digital backs. We also have a powerful laptop and the prerequisite software to take full advantage of the versatile effects, options and resolution the back offers.

After September and the presumed announcement of a newer version of our current digital system we will revisit the option of permanently including a high-end digital back in our kit or just make an incremental upgrade to the new 22MP system as it becomes available. The rental option for the medium format back will be available either way. We are committed to offering our clients the very highest quality and the best overall value in the work we produce to meet their needs.

Does this new technology and the options it offers appeal to you? Would you be willing to pay a premium for the benefits it offers? If so, please let us know.
 
JAN 2006: We've now been shooting digital exclusively for a year with no regrets. We've improved our workflow and color management to bring proofs to our clients in a matter of hours and deliver final publish ready files within just a few days of the shoot. While we have no plans to sell our camera systems, we are expanding our digital capabilities. We have invested in our dedicated web server, our computer work stations, our on-site studio, our studio & location lighting equipment and in our output options. Clients are amazed to be able to review, tweak and approve shots as they are taken. We shoot all jobs in camera RAW format for the highest quality and post production control. Every job is archived for future use in pre-post RAW as well as the final post produced TIFF and/or Jpeg files. Our client's feedback has been pretty much unanimous; they are extremely happy with both the process and the results, giving them as much control as they wish and results that demonstrate value.

MAR 2005: We've added a third digital printer to our office. Printing up to 24" wide and 50feet long this 6 color inkjet printer produces 2400dpi vivid color prints that will last up to 70 years! This printer falls in between our Fuji Color Dyesub printing up to 8.5x11 and our Kodak DS1000 36" mural plotter. Because of the high resolution and archival quality of the images we expect it to be our main photo imaging printer for the foreseeable future.
Learn about print/output options here

FEB 2005: On both studio and location shoots we are now using a portable 15" LCD TV to preview shots with our 16.7 MegaPixel digital camera system. Far superior to reviewing digital shots on the small 2" screen on the back of the camera, we can zoom into the smallest detail and know right there and then that we have the shot. We are now also looking into developing a portable wireless system in which we can transmit images directly from the camera to a laptop computer, prep the images and upload them via a cell phone to our webserver for instant review to or from anywhere in the world over the internet! Imagine being able to direct a shoot and approve final images from your desk while we are on location virtually anywhere! This service is available now on any assignment with a total budget over $15,000.
Eventually we may add live video feed allowing even greater remote participation.

DEC 2004: In addition to replacing our 24" Trinitron CRT monitor with a pair of 20" LCDs we now have our new 16.7 MegaPixel camera system. While 16.7MP is the highest available today in a full size digital sensor, but there more to it than just image pixel size. Combining Canon's finest lenses with this camera's state-of-the-art CMOS sensor and processing CPU this system produces images comparable to medium format film. This offers the advantages of quick turnaround by removing the need for film processing & scans prior to post production image prep. We will however continue to offer both digital and film (medium & large format) for our client's projects as they best fit their needs.

Fall 2004: Canon has just announced their new state-of-the-art 16.7 MegaPixel Professional Camera Body. This system utilizes the high quality "L" Series Canon lenses we already own and shoots full frame without "multiplier factor". This is excellent for our wide angle work, perhaps in conjunction with our Hasselblad SuperWide film camera system. While this new camera is expected to be $8000 for the body alone, we plan to purchase one as soon as it is available before year's end.

Summer 2004: I recently heard that at least one of our local competitors was selling all of their film equipment to move directly into digital. They said they were also going to buy the new 8 Mega Pixel camera from Canon rather than the more expensive 11 MegaPixel version to save money.

We are not going to make either of these compromises. We will continue to offer both film and digital. On the film side we will continue to support all of the major formats, small, medium and large with both negative and transparency films until they are no longer available. On the digital side we will continue to invest in the "state of the art" or close to it to offer our clients uncompromising image quality and resolution. Our soon-to-be-aquired 16.7MP system is full frame and has a superior CMOS sensor (see below). This system is reasonable comparable in quality to our Hasselblad film systems. We can use either or both, whichever suits your needs best.

Original Article (sometime in 2002 with some updates);
It started about 10 years ago, actually the introduction of digital camera was long before that but about 10 years ago professional photographers started to take notice. Back then the sensors used in these cameras were far inferior to modern films. They produced small files that instead of grain had "noise" produced by these early CCD type sensors. Today however we are on the edge of a new revolution where the latest digital cameras will replace film systems completely. Click here to find out more about film verses digital.

We have recently invested in the first of these state of the art digital camera systems. This current system produces a high quality 18Mb-36MB 16bit file with virtually no "noise". The system allows us to shoot several hundred shots very quickly without reloading as it utilizes a high capacity memory card. The files produced of course do not have to be scanned, and can be quickly downloaded, manipulated if desired and sent via the internet to the end user such as a publication. In many cases we can do this directly from our shooting location.

The images produced by our traditional film systems are still far superior as they can produce scanned files that are several hundred megabytes. This detail allows for greater enlargement and cropping of smaller areas of the shot. As of early 2004 our digital camera systems are 6-11mega-Pixel. 4000dpi scans from medium format film are the equivalent of 81 mega-Pixels!

The files from the digital system are limited in size plus the sensors do not allow wide angle views like many of our film systems. Because the digital sensors are still small they only record the center of what would otherwise be a wide angle view. This makes them less then ideal for many of our subjects including architecture, automotive interiors and some editorial applications. 

But technology is not stopping here, nor is it even slowing down. In the next 2 years we will be upgrading our first digital systems with the next generation of digital cameras. These cameras will also use the state of the art CMOS type sensor, but the sensor is larger, the same size as film, allowing the use of wide angle lenses to their full view. Additionally the next generation of digital camera systems will produce files which are nearly twice as large, making the image much more accommodating to applications requiring great enlargement or cropping.

We will continue to move forward, taking advantage of this revolution, the digital convergence as long as it benefits our customers by allowing us to produce high quality photography and marketing materials for them at an ever increasing value for the dollar.

We will be recommending to our customers the option of shooting with our digital camera systems when fast turn around is a top priority and when the eventual use of the image will be limited, not to ever require a very large file size. Another advantage is there is no material cost as the system uses rechargeable batteries and of course requires no Polaroid, film or processing.
Many of our competitors charge a "capture fee", as yet we do not, however as we make greater investments in our digital cameras and lenses we may need to do this to recover some of the capital costs. Take advantage of our services now to avoid this additional cost.

We will continue to recommend our traditional film camera systems for most applications until they no longer offer superior image quality, file size as it bares on enlargement and crop options as compared to the digital systems. I predict this transition will take 3-5 years. 

Whether we start with a digital file or a scanned traditional negative, over 90% of our work is delivered in a digital format. This digital file of the image may remain a file on a disk or sent over the internet for use in a publication, website or video or it may be output  as a print or mural. The digital prints we produce are indistinguishable from conventional photographic prints. They are not really good inkjet prints. They are printed by laser on photographic stock. To learn more about our output options click here.