Microsoft Announces HD Photo

[Damion Chaplin]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/3647/microsoft_announces_hd' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/3647/microsoft_announces_hd</a><br /><br /></div><i>"HD Photo offers compression with up to twice the efficiency of JPEG, with fewer damaging artifacts, resulting in higher-quality images that are one-half the file size. In addition, HD Photo offers increased image fidelity, preserving the entire original image content and enabling higher-quality exposure and color adjustments in the image. This new format offers the ability to decode only the information needed for any resolution or region, or the option to manipulate the image as compressed data... In addition, HD Photo offers both lossless and lossy image compression, and can retain the full dynamic range and color gamut data from a camera’s sensor. Also, because making adjustments to common color balance and exposure settings won’t discard or truncate data as other common bitmap formats typically do, it’s easier to “undo” those changes at a later time. As a result, significantly smaller files can be created while still retaining optimum picture quality."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/microsoft_hd_photo_demo.jpg" /> <br /><br />Microsoft's new HD Photo format sounds very nice, something photographers have needed for some time. I imagine though that in order to fully take advantage of it you'd have to shoot in RAW, and most people don't. As long as you keep taking pictures in JPEG format, you've already lost any advantage using HD Photo would give. It is, however, a significant step in the right direction. With any luck we'll start seeing cameras that natively support MS's new format around next year. A beta of the Vista plugin is available now, and plugins for Photoshop will be available soon. Microsoft expects to officially unveil HD Photo within 60 days.

[jeffd]

yea it does sound real nice. Hopefully because its MS, as as long as they offer easy support for all its current OS (and theres no licensing needed for 3rd party support unless your selling a product) it should get picked up pretty quick. Hell..I bet we could see new firmwares for popular existing cameras. you think?

Anyways, I also don't think its lost on those of us who still capture in jpeg. In superfine, the jpegs are highly uncompressed. Sure weve lost alot compare to raw, but its as if we just converted a dvd to divx using 6Mbits/sec. So I think the new jpeg format will still be usable for us to recompress our photos away from the 2-4 megs per photo it currently is. ;)

[Citezein]

I think the end goal is for cameras to record in HD Photo instead of JPEG. RAW is here to stay, but HDP would offer digicams a higher bit depth and more detail, while maintaining the smaller file sizes. It would be a sort of poor man's raw. From what I've read, camera manufacturers are interested in this. I'd certainly welcome it on my point and shoot. I would have little use for it on my SLR though that already has raw.

[Jason Dunn]

I don't know...there's that old saying that in order for one format to win out over another format in the consumer space, it has to offer a 10x improvement. Looking at JPEG today, how many consumers are really unhappy with the format itself? Do people know or care about file sizes? Hard drives are so big now it's hard to argue that. HD Photo offers technical improvements, yes, but enough for a consumer to care? I also view HD Photo like WMA - technically superior to MP3 in basically every way, but MP3 is still the gold-standard for compatibility. Are you going to email someone an HD Photo format image or a JPEG if you want to ensure that they can open it without needing to download and install a viewer?

Microsoft should have been rolling out HD Photo viewers in XP and Vista for the past few months to get their installed based bigger. Microsoft faces a huge uphill battle here, and I don't see it going well for them.