30 August 2009
august 2009
02/09/09 21:52
Review august 2009
Change is in the air in the global imaging industry. With the internet now the prime provider of information and the tireless probing by individuals for leaked and premature information about new products making any rumor instantly available world wide, it seems that companies now follow the Apple approach. Products are not yet specified, but the dates for product announcements are revealed in advance. The notion to be prepared for big surprises can now be seen from Canon, Panasonic on the internet, Twitter and YouTube among others. This is of course a reaction to control the torrent of rumors being poured on the internet and in magazines. It seems that speculation about new products is overtaking the analysis of existing products. It is part of the new culture of instant consumerism to want to own the newest and the most fashionable. As a sideline one may wonder where do these persons find the time for this in itself unproductive activity of collecting and feeding rumors. Well it generates traffic to the websites and in may generate income form advertisers.
With this trend now established in the market, we may ask the obvious question who is effectively using the products that are being sold. With so much energy being spent on talking about cameras, is there time to take pictures?
Even a company that showed such reluctance to operate in the public space of the internet is now showing a young profile. Leica’s CEO announced on YouTube, accompanied by a slick movie-clip, that September 9, 2009 will be a great day for Leica watchers and lovers. In interviews, Mr. Spiller has already indicated some time ago that the product line for scopes and binoculars is target for upgrades and new products and even cameras are mentioned. With the rumor watchers analyzing every syllable of the text, one need a new style of phrasing the sentences to give them more room for speculation.
Much less coverage in the virtual space has been given to some other Leica announcements: the losses for the full year 2009/2010 and the losses for the first quarter of the new fiscal year and the many personal changes in and around the management level. And also the announcement that Leica will refresh and expand their product range with tens of new products over the next one or two years is being overlooked. The number of new products is the benchmark for a company’s survival and standing in the market. This is a bad notion: Leica with a turnover of 100 million euro is creating more new products than Apple with a turnover of more than 30 billion dollars. I am inclined to be less interested in the sheer number of new products than in the usefulness and market success of a product. But again, it is a sign of the times than innovative capacity is being gauged by the number of market introductions. The current losses of Leica are partly caused by a heavy investment in new products as stated in the financial report.
Every year a new generation of mobile phones or tv set is being put on the market. In this product domain technological development and user satisfaction are in synch, but one needs to ask if every new or changed feature is for the user benefit.
The new version of the Apple OS (Snow Leopard) is a good example of sensible upgrade policy: no new features, but more performance and stability and a reduced size and complexity. Most electronic consumer products are too complex to be mastered easily for daily or occasional use. The sheer endless stream of how-to books about Photoshop or Lightroom is an indication of the complexity of the product, but also an indication that users are no longer willing to invest time in a steep learning cycle.
A film-loading Leica camera can be mastered in half an hour and will provide tens of year of use and functionality. The photographic process needs more time to get used to, but even here in a few days you can control most photographic assignments.
A digital M camera needs more time to understand all functions, but the limited set of features is a breath of fresh air compared to for example the new Canon 7D. But Leica’s CEO mentioned recently that Leica too must find a way to accommodate two conflicting trends: frequent introduction of new and improved products and the wish for investment protection in expensive cameras, like M or S. Looking at the second hand prices for a used M8, price erosion is unpleasantly high for a Leica camera.
The new slogan for the 7D is: designed by you, made by Canon. The company claims that more than 5000 persons have delivered input for the creation of this camera-model and that Canon has decided to built what has been requested. THis is partly a marketing dress-up, but in essence what Canon is implying is the shrinking distance between consumer demands and product design. Apple is following the opposite strategy: create products that the user feels he has always wanted to buy and use. But Canon feels obviously that the heavy competition leads to a convergence of product features and want to distinguish themselves as more user focused. Interpreting the comments by the new Leica CEO, we may expect that Leica is still indecisive about the strategic choices they have to make in this respect.
One of the remarkable features of the 7D is the pixel amount in the APS-C format. A quick calculation shows that the pixel pitch is 4.3 microns, which amounts to 232 lines per mm or 161 linepairs (cycles) per mm. This is an amazing level of resolution, but what lens in the Canon line can resolve at this level. On the other hand, the fact that you have more pixels for the same amount of spatial information is useful. The medium format systems are capitalizing on this aspect for the superior smoothness and clarity of their images.
The evolving capabilities of the APS-C format are a clear sign that the other trend, (micro) four thirds, faces an uphill battle, however smart and retro the small cameras look.
Another retro trend can be spotted in the efforts, so far successful, of the new Impossible project in the previous Polaroid factory in Enschede, Netherlands. Here a small group of enthusiastic and very dedicated people are re-inventing the instant photography process and aim to conserve in a niche this cultural icon of the chemical photography technology. They do realize that this is and will stay a niche market, but making money in a niche is better than losing money in a hotly contended market. And the secondary aim is to preserve the unique artistic abilities of the instant picture culture. One would really hope that one day some one at Leica would have that same inspiration and drive to revive the classical M camera, now completely out of the picture in the Leica management board. In Berlin (not that far from Solms) a new factory (Adox) is being built that will produce films and chemical paper for a shrunken, but not dead market.
The famous photographer is close to bankruptcy. As often is the case, excellence in art does not imply excellence in finance. She has become the victim of the american dream: spending ever more and not attending the mounting debt. The interesting fact about her style of photography is the ever increasing complexity of the scene she created for the shot: it did cost a fortune to set up the scene, but her equipment was quite simple.
The other way around happens every day: most photographers nowadays use immensely complex equipment to capture simple scenes. Does this imply a message? Indeed it does: reflection on the basic values of photography and on simplicity are in order.
New style of product announcements
Change is in the air in the global imaging industry. With the internet now the prime provider of information and the tireless probing by individuals for leaked and premature information about new products making any rumor instantly available world wide, it seems that companies now follow the Apple approach. Products are not yet specified, but the dates for product announcements are revealed in advance. The notion to be prepared for big surprises can now be seen from Canon, Panasonic on the internet, Twitter and YouTube among others. This is of course a reaction to control the torrent of rumors being poured on the internet and in magazines. It seems that speculation about new products is overtaking the analysis of existing products. It is part of the new culture of instant consumerism to want to own the newest and the most fashionable. As a sideline one may wonder where do these persons find the time for this in itself unproductive activity of collecting and feeding rumors. Well it generates traffic to the websites and in may generate income form advertisers.
With this trend now established in the market, we may ask the obvious question who is effectively using the products that are being sold. With so much energy being spent on talking about cameras, is there time to take pictures?
Leica announcements.
Even a company that showed such reluctance to operate in the public space of the internet is now showing a young profile. Leica’s CEO announced on YouTube, accompanied by a slick movie-clip, that September 9, 2009 will be a great day for Leica watchers and lovers. In interviews, Mr. Spiller has already indicated some time ago that the product line for scopes and binoculars is target for upgrades and new products and even cameras are mentioned. With the rumor watchers analyzing every syllable of the text, one need a new style of phrasing the sentences to give them more room for speculation.
Much less coverage in the virtual space has been given to some other Leica announcements: the losses for the full year 2009/2010 and the losses for the first quarter of the new fiscal year and the many personal changes in and around the management level. And also the announcement that Leica will refresh and expand their product range with tens of new products over the next one or two years is being overlooked. The number of new products is the benchmark for a company’s survival and standing in the market. This is a bad notion: Leica with a turnover of 100 million euro is creating more new products than Apple with a turnover of more than 30 billion dollars. I am inclined to be less interested in the sheer number of new products than in the usefulness and market success of a product. But again, it is a sign of the times than innovative capacity is being gauged by the number of market introductions. The current losses of Leica are partly caused by a heavy investment in new products as stated in the financial report.
Product cycles
Every year a new generation of mobile phones or tv set is being put on the market. In this product domain technological development and user satisfaction are in synch, but one needs to ask if every new or changed feature is for the user benefit.
The new version of the Apple OS (Snow Leopard) is a good example of sensible upgrade policy: no new features, but more performance and stability and a reduced size and complexity. Most electronic consumer products are too complex to be mastered easily for daily or occasional use. The sheer endless stream of how-to books about Photoshop or Lightroom is an indication of the complexity of the product, but also an indication that users are no longer willing to invest time in a steep learning cycle.
A film-loading Leica camera can be mastered in half an hour and will provide tens of year of use and functionality. The photographic process needs more time to get used to, but even here in a few days you can control most photographic assignments.
A digital M camera needs more time to understand all functions, but the limited set of features is a breath of fresh air compared to for example the new Canon 7D. But Leica’s CEO mentioned recently that Leica too must find a way to accommodate two conflicting trends: frequent introduction of new and improved products and the wish for investment protection in expensive cameras, like M or S. Looking at the second hand prices for a used M8, price erosion is unpleasantly high for a Leica camera.
Canon 7D
The new slogan for the 7D is: designed by you, made by Canon. The company claims that more than 5000 persons have delivered input for the creation of this camera-model and that Canon has decided to built what has been requested. THis is partly a marketing dress-up, but in essence what Canon is implying is the shrinking distance between consumer demands and product design. Apple is following the opposite strategy: create products that the user feels he has always wanted to buy and use. But Canon feels obviously that the heavy competition leads to a convergence of product features and want to distinguish themselves as more user focused. Interpreting the comments by the new Leica CEO, we may expect that Leica is still indecisive about the strategic choices they have to make in this respect.
One of the remarkable features of the 7D is the pixel amount in the APS-C format. A quick calculation shows that the pixel pitch is 4.3 microns, which amounts to 232 lines per mm or 161 linepairs (cycles) per mm. This is an amazing level of resolution, but what lens in the Canon line can resolve at this level. On the other hand, the fact that you have more pixels for the same amount of spatial information is useful. The medium format systems are capitalizing on this aspect for the superior smoothness and clarity of their images.
The evolving capabilities of the APS-C format are a clear sign that the other trend, (micro) four thirds, faces an uphill battle, however smart and retro the small cameras look.
Polaroid and analogue revival
Another retro trend can be spotted in the efforts, so far successful, of the new Impossible project in the previous Polaroid factory in Enschede, Netherlands. Here a small group of enthusiastic and very dedicated people are re-inventing the instant photography process and aim to conserve in a niche this cultural icon of the chemical photography technology. They do realize that this is and will stay a niche market, but making money in a niche is better than losing money in a hotly contended market. And the secondary aim is to preserve the unique artistic abilities of the instant picture culture. One would really hope that one day some one at Leica would have that same inspiration and drive to revive the classical M camera, now completely out of the picture in the Leica management board. In Berlin (not that far from Solms) a new factory (Adox) is being built that will produce films and chemical paper for a shrunken, but not dead market.
Annie Leibowitz
The famous photographer is close to bankruptcy. As often is the case, excellence in art does not imply excellence in finance. She has become the victim of the american dream: spending ever more and not attending the mounting debt. The interesting fact about her style of photography is the ever increasing complexity of the scene she created for the shot: it did cost a fortune to set up the scene, but her equipment was quite simple.
The other way around happens every day: most photographers nowadays use immensely complex equipment to capture simple scenes. Does this imply a message? Indeed it does: reflection on the basic values of photography and on simplicity are in order.