There can be no argument that commercial advertising will use the cheapest, fastest method to achieve its goal, even if that means eliminating people (real people) entirely.

I have my doubts about movies, though, since using AI animation for an entire documentary, dramatic, or comedic movie without any real people might not sell too well. Even the Marvel Universe still requires some real people to blend into the explosions and come out the other side. There is already very little reason to have actual people in this type of movie, but I can't see humans being completely replaced any time soon.

I think there will still be a place for wedding, portrait, and senior photography, documenting news, sending images from space, broadcasting and recording important events, speeches and what have you, personal memorabilia and many other uses that will always require a device to record an actual event.

If you are in certain lines of work, you may have to worry about your job in the future, but cameras in general are going to be around for a long, long time. You'll still want that picture of you at the Grand Canyon.

Thank you to all that responded with their comments and opinions. First GAS isn't really involved..I am most concerned about debris that might find its way into the card compartment. I have frequently wishing a higher ISO setting was available. I would like to upgrade to a mirrorless system, but only if it makes financial sense.

For now I will either use the D7100 with the chip and possibly place tape over the chipped area when I go to a questionable area. In the future I will do the upgrade to the D7200 in the next year or so. I will also investigate the Z50 to see how it fits into my finances and current equipment.

Thanks again,
Bill

There can be no argument that commercial advertising will use the cheapest, fastest method to achieve its goal, even if that means eliminating people (real people) entirely.

I have my doubts about movies, though, since using AI animation for an entire documentary, dramatic, or comedic movie without any real people might not sell too well. Even the Marvel Universe still requires some real people to blend into the explosions and come out the other side. There is already very little reason to have actual people in this type of movie, but I can't see humans being completely replaced any time soon.

I think there will still be a place for wedding, portrait, and senior photography, documenting news, sending images from space, broadcasting and recording important events, speeches and what have you, personal memorabilia and many other uses that will always require a device to record an actual event.

If you are in certain lines of work, you may have to worry about your job in the future, but cameras in general are going to be around for a long, long time. You'll still want that picture of you at the Grand Canyon.

PPI and DPI are not the same thing.

PPI refers to the number of pixels used to display an image on a monitor. DPI refers to the number of ink dots used to paint an image on a medium like paper.

Common monitor resolutions are 1920 pixels (2k) and 3940 (4k). PPI is calculated by dividing the monitor pixel width by the width of the display in inches.

Based on normal visual acuity, 300ppi is considered the highest resolution that a human eye can perceive as sharp from about 10". From 15" it is 200ppi and from 20" it is 150ppi.

My eyes are old and I use readers because I chose to prioritize long distance vision when I had my cataracts removed.

I have two monitors that are about 24" wide. I can distinguish the separate pixels on the 2k monitor (82ppi) if I get close enough, but I can't work any closer than 15" from the screen. With the 4k monitor (157ppi) I can't really see the separate pixels from 15".

The arbitrary 300ppi standard viewed from 10" is conservative. It's also the basis for DOF calculations.

I doubt that any viewer is going to get within 10" of a print to judge whether it is sharp.

DPI is ink dots per inch. Printers use much higher dpi values to create a print. The Epson P900 has a maximum resolution of 5760 x 1440 dpi. It takes a lot of ink dots to represent the content of a single pixel. The multiple dots make it possible to achieve subtle colors.

The only way they come together is if you don't have enough ppi to generate a sharp image with the ink dots.

That ppi is inversely proportional to the distance from which the viewer is going to look at the image. But a printer used to create very large prints does not need as many ppi as a normal photographic printer. You can create a billboard sized print using a very low ppi so long as the viewer is not likely to get too close.

When you are looking at an image in your editor you are looking at the full size image.

When exporting the image as a JPEG, it might end up looking different if it is resized to save space, depending on the amount of detail present. It can also make a difference in the print.

The next post shows three different sizes of the same finely detailed high contrast B&W image. You might see the difference in the thumbnails.

If you download the images and look at them without pixel peeping, you can see how much resizing altered the appearance of the image. The difference also shows up when I print the three images.

My Nikon D7100 has suffered a chipped door to the memory card compartment. Pricing a repair by Nikon it is comparable to purchasing a similar used body from KEH or MPB plus shipping to Nikon. I am tempted to step up to a D7200 for ~$100 more, largely for an improvement in ISO performance and wireless capability.

For a bit more I am also considering a Zfc. I know this would require also purchasing the FTZ adapter. Lookopng on line I am left wondering what functionality I would lose with this upgrade. I have several Nikon lenses:

18-135mm
18-200mm
70-300mm
35mm f1.8
50mm f1.8

Currently my workhorse lens is the Tamrom 18-400mm and I also have a Tamron 10-24. How would these function with the Zfc?

Thanks for your input.

Bill

As we know Adobe has been integrating more and more AI features into Photoshop generative fill and has upgraded Firefly, its AI generating program, to Version 3. In the latest release of Photoshop beta it is now possible to generate a multiple layer composite image using only verbal commands. Generative Fill and Generative Expand, both AI functions, allow us to add AI images to photographs easily and Generative Expand allows us to expand the borders of a photograph with the push of a button.

Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI, DeNoise AI, Sharpen AI and Photo AI use Artificial Intelligence to correct our photographic mistakes. These have become accepted Post Processing steps and are no longer mentioned in photo descriptions yet are truly AI modified images by definition.

Ugly Hedgehog has guidelines on how and where AI and AI/photograph hybrid images may be posted. I believe it is time to revisit these guidelines. With few exceptions most of us use AI to one degree or another in Post Processing. I believe it is time to allow AI generated images to be posted in any Forum as long they are identified as such.

First of all I have lost count of how much money I have happily spent at BnH. Every single experience I have had at BnH has been positive. Absolutely no complaints from me what so ever. So what's going on now?

I opened a Payboo account. With this account you can buy what you want, and depending on how much you spend you get so many months of interest free payments.

I bought $6200.00 worth of new gear expecting several months to pay it off so I wouldn't by paying any interest.

I received my first invoice today from Payboo and they charged me $134.00 in interest.

I am not done with BnH by any means. Since i don't have $6,000 sitting around to pay this off tomorow I guess I have no other option except to withdraw money from my pension account to pay off this balance and say good bye to Payboo.

So what's up BnH?