Jrwil

Appears to me in-camera focus stacking could be accomplished

goldenyears Loc: Lake Osewgo

I'm waiting for a Canon cellphone.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Olympus and Panasonic already do it.

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

If your wondering where AI is going in Photography, google DALL-e. It's an application that generates very realistic images just from a natural language query. No camera or photographer involved. At this stage, it almost impossible to fathom where computational photography and AI will end. Currently, some of the new desktop computers have AI engines built directly into the CPU, so you know there's more to come. The only thing for sure, is that it will amaze the younger generations and cause cardiac arrest in the older generations.

The only real question is, as artists, how do we embrace it?

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Just read that I Phone 14 Pro will have a 45mp camera and possibly a big jump in optical zoom capability. It’s the camera you always have with you.

delder Loc: Maryland

Agree the gap is somewhat narrowing between "Classic" DSLR/ML Camera and Advanced Smartphone camera capabilities.

Another thought, as previously stated on UHH, " The best Camera is the one you have with you!

The Ubiquity of the Smartphone allows it to grab fleeting images sometimes unavailable to your Clasic camera kit.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

I like your last line a lot.... We could have 25 pages just addressing that. In fact, that is an excellent question to post on it's own merits. Thanks for your thoughtful response.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

A great and thoughtful response... I myself concur 100%. I myself have gone from a bottom dweller mucker to a middle of the road mucker. Lots of accomplished and very knowledgeable people on the hog. Practice and learning go hand in hand regardless of the camera brand or format. In my OP I was trying to just stimulate thoughts on just WHERE Photog. was headed with all the recent advances... If smartphone marketers can just get the new generation involved enough to USE all these advances there might be hope. Point and shoot just takes all the interest and fun away.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

I believe it will be more straightforward than most of the community thinks...

We were born in a strange moment of history, where constant technological progress is the rule. We actually expect that the next generation of mobile phones, cameras, cars, etc. to be more advanced as today's models.

The new camera CPU's incorporating more powerful AI functions, etc. will be embraced for the ones who need them or like to use them. A camera is just a toolbox... technical progress just adds more tools to the box and also refines the existing ones. It is the photographer who chooses which tools to use.

As an amateur and a pure RAW shooter, I'd probably not use such in-camera features... this would resemble *work* too much. I like more to sit in front of the computer, cull, edit, tweak and contemplate my creations than quickly make a SOOC photo, for which I won't be paid anyway.

Others will embrace the chance to quickly frame the action, shoot, and send an acceptable photo to a news-portal - before another competitor does - to make money. Or to send to their families, or social media, or whatever.

We are already used to embrace new tools... think of eye-AF, etc. The new features just come in a somewhat regular pace, therefore most photographers always have - if they want - time to adapt.

delder Loc: Maryland

AI/Technology advances in the Art & Science of Photography with be with us for a LONG time!
Right now Medical Imaging uses a wonderful variety of technology to obtain insight into the human body. What if the technology of sonogram [for example] was applied to Photography?
Remember we already used acoustic rangefinders in Polaroid Cameras years ago!

I feel this topic will live on in UHH

stanikon Loc: Deep in the Heart of Texas

Anyone who thinks we are right now at the pinnacle of photography is very short-sighted. Look at it this way: how much 100 year-old technology do we use right now? Answer: not much. So how much of today's technology will still be in use 100 years from now? At the rate we are progressing very, very little, if any (assuming civilization still exists 100 years from now).

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

It is worse than that... 100 year old technology is so rudimentary and autonomous that it is not very difficult to use today... just mix some silver nitrate, and you are good to go. *BUT* today's tech is so absolutely dependent of a mesh of different other technologies (WiFi, cellular networks, batteries, USB connectivity, card readers, software licenses, etc.) that it will be absolutely impossible to use in 20 years, don't even think about in 100 years.

Just try to connect a parallel dot matrix printer to a modern laptop

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

As someone that writes computer code for a living I have to disagree. All of the technologies mentioned are ancillary to producing an image. Having a digital image file is about as archival as you can get. As technology advances, even if an entirely new format is developed it’s not a major push to convert data. As for the interfaces also not a big deal. You want to hook up a dot matrix printer to your laptop? You can get a USB to parallel port cable. You can get both 3 1/2” and 5 1/4” drives with USB connections. Unless something is a fringe technology there will be a way to access it. Punch cards? You can build a reader pretty easily or you could optically scan them and write an easy program to interpret.

stanikon Loc: Deep in the Heart of Texas

Being able to access it in limited circumstances and for limited purposes is much different than regular, daily use. 100 years from now our current technologies will be accessible but who will want to do that? E.g. who still uses a dot-matrix printer? Who of those reading this can change a Conestoga wheel?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Half the UHH community can still remember riding on Conestoga wagons ...