Just indulging in a little fantasy concerning future photographic technology --- right now it's digital & mega-pixels --- lots of fun watching the new models come out like the Nikon D200 or the new Olympus E-VOLT 330 with it's live LCD preview ---- but where can it go in the distant future ? ---- anyone care to guess ? ---as for me -- I've found that many times when walking through a downtown area with a swirl of people and colour around me - I'll catch some wonderful scene that plays out in a split second or less ( and then it's gone ) --- and that image will linger in my mind -- what a GREAT photograph that would've made! - but no one with a conventional camera could ever react that quickly - so I was musing on whether it would be even possible for some kind of future photographic device to be wired into what the eye actually sees -- or at least a good facsimile of such.........maybe an intentional blink of the eye could trigger the capture! LOL ! ------- and the subjects would never know -- completely natural results unprejudiced by the spotted photographer --- but is this even possible? --- So -- I would ask - where can still photography go from here ? --------any thoughts ?? -- ok --- so I'm overtired -- just musing.

My thought is that we will be able to embed a camera and small computer into our skin.Then with thought process the electric trigger from the brain will tell the computer whether you want to take a picture,send info or even talk to people around the world using the embedded mic. Of course you will be able to see the person you are talking to in a holographic image with otional glasses. LOL I always think of this kind of thing. Remember...anything that your mind can think of has to be possible, or you would not be able to think it.

"Remember...anything that your mind can think of has to be possible, or you would not be able to think it." .......hmmm - well- how about the possibility of a hurricane swirling thru a field full of airplane parts and , just by chance, assembling a 747 plane?? ......sorry Doug -- just kidding --- Doug

Doug....that could be possible..LOL If all those parts ended up in a field, and there was some ingenious people hanging around, they may just end up building that. I do kind of refer to sort of different ideals though. For instance...Robert Heinlen wrote a book called fear no evil way back in the 50s. He talked about ATM machines, and armoured Rollls Royces. He had a lot of things that are now realities. Then there is Nostradamus. OK I must be tired now too. My only hope is that in 20 years people still enjoy looking at photos,whatever they may be. I mean in 20 years...will someone still want to look at a tree or a duck?

...it may be that in the future many of the technologies that produced art will just co-exist - kept alive by pockets of enthusiasts --- 78 records are still collected -old vinyl & vhs videos will be kept alive by collectors -- I'll even bet there are 8-track people out there keeping the flame held high ! ( why - I'm not quite sure ) --- so I have no doubts that all manor of this centuries cameras and their end products will always exist somewhere - and become exclusive by their rarity and unique characteristics.....good art will survive ---- even 'duck photos' I suppose !

A tree or a duck image might be "what used to be" and valued, indeed, in the museum of natural history. That part of technology frightens me. As for advances, my cliche is just look back 20 years then look at the very pc you use today. There is even research going on to use diamonds in "chips" or processors, with lightening speed and no problems with heat! I now have 5 fans in this computer and the largest fan is me.

There was supposed to be a dream recorder coming out on the market. So a photo still version would be possible. Or did I just dream that up? Cheers GaWa

One can pursue this thread on many levels, "What is the future of Painting? What about glowing nanoparticles embedded in oil?" The future and history of any artistic pursuit can be analyzed on infinite levels. I think view cameras and platinum printing are cool! Optics really is not my area of engineering. In "professional" digital equipment the trend has been towards more pixels, on a bigger substrait (so we can reuse our old 35mm film lenses). [It sure would be nice to make use of my 20mm wide-angle again someday...] What I wonder is, how much SMALLER is it possible to make the sensor before the size of each individual pixel cell comes up against some physical law? Smaller means less battery, cheaper, and faster. [It also, with today's technology, means more noise, which may be the physical limitation.] With smaller sensors I'd invision the little "hat" camera, that could be capturing HDTV as I walk down the street. With the smaller sensor it should be possible to build a small 14-600mm F/1.2 zoom, that would fit in the "hat" camera. With smaller sensors, the speed should increase. Forget about spot metering. My camera/computer should evaluate the exposure of EVERY pixel, on the fly, at the instant of taking the shot! Actually, it should take a couple shots, before and after I actually press the button. The camera's reflexes to capture the ideal moment should be better than my aging fingers. The biggest advance, which I hope happens soon, is a practical way to zap dust off the sensor! In the near term I think there will be advances in storing, retrieving, and displaying the results. Flat panel wall-hangings will open up new ways of using stills, video, and sound. There really must be a better way for me to find where in my hundreds of CD's is the pic of Aunt Bertha at the Beach. Personally, I do not understand the "camera phone" trend. But it is safe to say the trend will continue, and portable retrieval and viewing, and sharing, will evolve.

I like the idea of an embedded camera...I have that same issue of how I see a photo and then its gone and think, "That would have been an awsome photo!" William Gibson wrote books about cyberspace decades ago and look were we are now with the internet. People walk around with those bluetooth phones in their ears and look like cyborgs. I'm sure anything will be possible eventually. :)