George Schaub

In this issue we ask our contributors to pose their thoughts about the future of photography, at least looking forward a year. As is their wont, each has a particular revelation, wish, or projection based upon their sense of optimism (or lack of it) and field of expertise. You'll read echoes of nostalgia for film photography, thoughts on what needs to change to make things...

The Canon Digital Rebel line accomplished a number of things. It broke the $1000 DSLR price barrier, with room to spare, and as a result brought DSLR photography into the mainstream. What followed is history, with other makers bringing forth their "bargain" DSLR offerings, with the Rebel setting the bar. As is their wont, Canon followed up on the Rebel with other generations of this successful product, each one a modification that incorporated technology gotten from more current cameras and lessons learned from past Rebel products. The latest of these is the Canon Rebel XTi, a 10+ megapixel DSLR with a dust reduction system and simplified operating system.

Photographers who soup their own film know about developers. There are those for sharpness and those for speed, with agitation schedules and dilution ratios all part of creating a custom negative. Stretching the analogy, as we are wont to do when translating film to digital terms, today's raw converters are like custom developers, where you can manipulate image information...

When the term pro gear is used these days it means more than a high-priced camera and fast lens, or a strobe setup that can fire three heads at once and still have juice to spare. Pros these days also have to be concerned with fast computers, terabytes of backup, and large-screen monitors that display images in all their glory. They also need the software to run it all, and the...