Ummm, you might want to think twice about blowing a couple of months' income on that shiny new digital SLR.
A provocative column from veteran photojournalist Dirk Halstead argues that still photography as we know it is on its last legs. An assortment of the usual technological factors--higher resolution, lower prices, small forms--are conspiring to make video cameras the primary form of image acquisition. When photojournalists--and regular shutterbugs--want a still image, they'll just grab a frame from the HD video they shot.
That's not good news for camera makers such as Nikon that have yet to stake out a claim on the camcorder market, Halstead proclaims.
Most of the major camera manufacturers that are now associated with still photography will probably be out of business by 2016. Of the majors now selling cameras, I would put my money on only Canon to survive.
Among the casualties of such a transition would be the 4x3 box that typically defines still photos. With HD cameras typically grabbing 16x9 widescreen images, photographers will have to rethink their whole frame of reference.
The Coming Earthquake in Photography[The Digital Journalist]
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