Microsoft's HD Photo Format - the JPEG Killer at Last?

I've never recommended a 2-hour podcast segment to anyone before. Hell, I don't think I've ever listened to a 2-hour show before.

But if you're interested in digital photo formats, the future of photo file compression, industry standards and the quandary of proprietary RAW file formats for every camera brand, you should check out episode 51 of This Week in Media.

TWIM usually covers the film industry from the camera operators' or special effects persons' point of view. This week it's all about digital photo formats, and the status of Microsoft's HD Photo format.

I'm no math scholar, but I could keep up with the discussion as MS's Bill Crow explained some of the limitations of JPEG, TIFF, RAW and other file formats. I was also able to keep up when he got into a description of the algorhythm used in the new format, and how it allows for more information to be maintained about what the camera's sensors picked up.

The payoff at the end of the show (okay, it's only 1 hour, 53 minutes, not the full two hours) is when they talk about Photosynth, a cool tool Microsoft is developing to analyse and piece together photos from different angles, based on the grouping of objects or surfaces in different photos that are identified to help the tool place the image spatially in a 3-D viewing light table.

Comments

[Terry Lavender]

I'd be very scared if a Microsoft-developed technology becomes the de facto standard. One of the benefits of technology such as jpeg for photos and mp3 for music is that they are not owned by anyone. They may be inferior to other technologies, but I think the open source aspect outweighs the technological advantage.

[Dave Traynor]

Thanks for the pointer, Eric. Like Terry, my first reaction is hesitation. I don't like proprietary systems. That said, I admit that I'm a Mac fan, so I use a lot of programs that are proprietary. Oh well. Life is full of contradictions. How does this talk about a new format fit in with Adobe's attempts to create a new format called Digital Negative?

[Tom Keefe]

I don't want to settle for inferior technologies solely because they are open source. Look at WordPress as an example of an open source product that is every bit as good (some would say better in some aspects) than proprietary products.

The open source allows developers to offer wonderful add-ons that are a big bonus.

But if Microsoft, or some other company, developed a product that was clearly superior to anything in the open source environment, it would stand a good chance of wooing the critical mass of users that eventually would allow it to claim status as the defacto standard.

[Eric Eggertson]

I'm usually suspicious of Microsoft, but I believe the HD photo format will be no more proprietary than the PDF format, which has made digital publishing much easier. Also, they seem committed to openly publishing their specs, which is a good sign