Megapixels no more

Damian Koh | Feb 06, 2006

While we're all waiting for the upcoming annual Photo Marketing Association (PMA) convention end of February, columnist David Pogue from The New York Times wrote an insightful piece last week on the future of digital cameras. His take included liquid lenses, hydrogen-powered shooters, 4-inch OLED screens, GPS-equipped units and sophisticated face recognition software. Sounds darn exciting?

The man's waiting for February 2010.

In his article, Pogue addressed several questions which few had the answers to. How are we going to archive and manage the whole lot of digital photos which we take today, in 10 years' time? Can hard drives and compact discs last? And the most important question: The future of JPEG files.

One thing's for sure--digital imaging is the future, while the megapixel race, according to Chuck Westfall, director of Media for Canon's camera marketing group, "is pretty much over".

Pixel counting joins film in obsolete bin.