Dual Focus In Cameras
By Chris O''Malley
It's that dreaded time in gadgetry again: you're going to have to choose between competing technologies. Did you bet Beta or VHS? Did you do Windows or bite into Macintosh? What call did you make on cellular vs. PCS phones? The next coin toss is in photography, in which a new line of digital cameras that store pictures on memory chips rather than film is fighting it out with Advanced Photo System models, an innovative take on traditional 35-mm film.
Stores are loaded with small, jazzy cameras guaranteed to make you a photo genius if you can figure out which one to buy. "Where do you begin? It's crazy," confesses Jaqueline Augustine, who chairs the Photography Information Council, a trade group that tries to educate the camera-buying public. By her reckoning, there are more than 200 cameras on the market. "We've definitely confused the consumer," she says.
APS is essentially a smaller, more convenient version of 35-mm film. In a rare show of unity, Eastman Kodak and Fuji Photo Film--companies that truly, genuinely detest each other--worked with cameramakers to come up with a new design that solves some of photography's most basic problems, including getting the film to thread through the camera correctly (the No. 1 picture-taking pitfall according to industry surveys). With APS cameras, film cartridges are simply dropped in and thread themselves. You also get a choice of three picture sizes (standard, wide and panoramic), and the prints come back with a visual index sheet to make finding pictures and ordering reprints easier.
More intriguing, APS film is "correctable" in that it has a magnetic strip that can be used to record picture information about lighting conditions, flash use and other variables in addition to basics like date and picture number. In theory, these data allow photo processors to alter pictures after the fact when used in APS cameras that are "ix" (information exchange) models. These cameras cost more than $100, often much more. Another hitch: not all APS film processors have the right equipment to take advantage of that info.
In future models, the APS magnetic strip may be used to capture voice clips or, eventually, even to record simultaneously a digital version of your film picture. For now, APS picture quality is roughly the same as 35-mm film. And like 35 mm, APS is available in different film speeds to match varying light conditions or snare fast-action shots. (As a rule, the slower the film speed, the sharper the resolution.) A note to travelers: APS film can be hard to find outside the U.S. and Japan, so stock up before leaving on that trip to foreign shores.
Despite these advances, consumers initially greeted APS with a yawn, until Canon introduced a petite model aptly named Elph. It's the only hit yet in the parade of APS cameras. Canon discovered that many Elph buyers didn't even know, or care, that their new camera was an APS model, which is about as smooth a technology transfer as you can hope for. Elph just looks real cool, and it fits into a shirt pocket. "The design had much more impact than APS," admits Ted Ando, general manager of Canon U.S.A. Inc.'s camera division. Cameramakers have got the message, and a slew of Elph-licates are headed for store shelves.
The best part about APS technology is that it is affordable. Many of these tiny models will sell for $200 to $400, but more basic APS cameras are available for as little as $50. Just as critical to APS' budding success is the fact that you can get the film developed nearly anywhere in the U.S. that 35-mm film is processed, a far cry from the spotty APS services available just a year ago. That has camera and film companies, humbled after APS' sluggish start, talking big again. "I think APS will eventually replace 35-mm film for consumers," says Ted McGrath, president of the photography group at Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. Inc.
Few are ready to make such a claim for digital cameras, which were introduced in 1995. But the technology of capturing pictures as computer data is racing ahead as consumers get comfortable with the technology. The latest "megapixel" models, which snap images composed of more than a million dots, or pixels, can produce pictures that rival film prints--provided you've got a computer, a good color printer, some glossy photo paper and the patience to put it all together. You may need a bigger wallet too: the best consumer models still cost $500 to $1,300.
Digital cameras let you do some things film versions don't, including showing your pictures on a TV and, once they're in your PC, e-mailing them anywhere. You can also touch up your photos (and eliminate, say, ex-spouses) after the fact with picture-editing software such as Adobe's PhotoDeluxe. And a digital's memory card, unlike film, is reusable.
"The key question is, what do you want to end up with?" says Willy C. Shih, president of Kodak's digital-imaging division. If the answer is simply prints to put in your photo album, then a film camera is still the way to go. But for the "pictures-as-information crowd," as Shih calls it, there are plenty of willing suppliers, with new megapixel cameras available now or due shortly from Canon, Casio, Epson, Fuji, Kodak, Nikon, Olympus and others.
In fact, the line between today's film and tomorrow's digital photography is blurring. Some photo developers can already turn your film prints into digital files, a trend that Kodak and Intel hope to nurture with a jointly created Picture CD service slated to begin later this year. Kodak also has a new $349 "film drive" for PCs that converts a roll of APS film into sharp, digitized pictures. Imagek, a unit of Irvine Sensors, is attempting to merge the two worlds inside the camera. Its "electronic film system," which converts any 35-mm model into a digital camera, is expected in August.
New technologies like APS and digital that really work drive consumers to the stores looking to buy. For camera retailers, this new wave of products is a good development. Says David Ritz, president of Ritz Camera Centers Inc.: "We're happy as long as the consumer is happy."