True digital image

The L16 camera has … 16 lenses, and the image is created by a computer (on camera or on your desk) processing the images captured by individual lenses. Credit: Light

I posted a few news on the L16, the digital camera (or should I say “cameras”) of Light. First it was about a camera being “promised”, and that was in 2015, then about a camera being tested (2016) and then about being released to the market (2017). Now the camera is being sold worldwide and you can get many users impression on the web. Interesting the one published by The Verge, titled “futuristic frustration“.

Today I would like to comment on the L16 from two point of view:

  • what digital image has become, and
  • the pace of innovation.
  1. What digital image has become

A digital image, in photography, was supposed to replace the silver pigments on the film creating a digital image. Differently from the film, the bits where immediately rendered to create the image, it was not, as in the film a negative image that would be converted once printed in the representation of the original subject. The discussion, at that time, was the kind of resolution the bits could offer with respect to the silver grain. Obviously it was not the “bits” but the sensor creating the bits, but most people just compared the quality delivered by the film to the one delivered by bits.

Now, that was interesting because silver pigments cannot be further processed, bits could! Hence almost immediately we saw the development of software applications manipulating those bits to get a better image (where better could be read as more faithful to the original subject or more pleasing to the eye of the observer of the final image). We even invented a verb to describe this process of working on bits to get a better final quality: “photoshopping”.  And we photosopped (and we are photoshopping today) well beyond what was thinkable with the silver pigments:

  • we are removing wrinkles under the eyes of our lady…
  • we remove people from a landscape to get a pristine beach (not existing in reality!)
  • we change the weather adding or removing clouds, inserting sun’s rays
  • we are mixing characters from different photos into a single image

Yes, we are creating a digital image that goes way beyond reality.

This shift from “copying” reality to harvesting information about reality and then manipulating it (in post processing) goes by the name ETTR, Expose To The Right. Gone are the times of film photography when you used a light metre to evaluate the overall light in a scene and make sure you would recreate on film the same situation. Now the mantra is “capture as much information you can”, hence ETTR, and then in post processing work on that information to create whatever you fancy (even something that matches the original!).

The L16 is bringing this idea of capturing as much information as possible to a new level. You have 16 lenses (up to 10 working in parallel) each capturing information. This information is then processed together with the ones generated by the other lenses and an image is created.  It does not correspond, in principle, to any of the original image “copies”. It is a “real” digital image.

A few smartphones have taken up this idea of having several lenses (2 or 3 so far) and mixing the information captured to create more pleasing images (the manufacturers usually say “better images” but actually they are a re-interpretation of the reality). So you can use a lens to get an out of focus image and another to get a sharp image. By combining the two you can have your subject in sharp focus and the rest blurred out.

Of course experienced photographer in the past managed to make some alteration to the film recorded image (re-touch) but it was pretty complicated. Today anyone can manipulate a digital image and transform it without constraints. A side effect is that fakes are becoming “normal” and sometimes they create problems.

2. The pace of Innovation

By the time Light released their camera on the market, in 2017, (it was announced in 2015) technology has evolved significantly. 3 years in this area is a very long time.

Their original claim to have a compact camera that would be au pair with DSRL cameras was no longer true, since today’s DSRL are way better than the L16. Yes, their camera is more compact than a DSRL but not as compact as a smartphone, and today’s smartphone can deliver a quality that is very similar to the L16 (or at least the gap is not so big to spend 2 to 4 times as much and get “just” a camera whereas with a smartphone you get a camera, an editing device, a storing and playing device… yes you also get a phone but cares?).

Innovation is so fast that either you hit the market immediately or you are losing the window of opportunity. You cannot generate volumes (since your proposition is no longer attractive to a broad market) hence you are forced to impose higher prices (Light is not trying to push sales by offering a 20% discount, something that is not a sign of a product winning the market! You cannot get discounts on the latest Samsung and Apple smartphones…). Alas, if the prices are perceived high, non competitive, you can only address niches, in a lose-lose spiral.

The problem with digital images is that processing has become so cheap and so effective that the physical tool used to harvest information, a smartphone

The number of camera sales tumbled in 2012, with smartphones killing the point-and-shoot market. Credit: Photography life

or a DSRL, is no longer making a big difference. Entering that market, therefore has become tougher, and the disruption as basically killed the point and shoot camera market, as shown in the graphic.

This is the side effect of digitalisation, it is affecting all areas where we are shifting from atoms to bits. The digital image area is just one example.

About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.