Review the development of 20 19 photographic equipment industry, products and technology, not to mention that 5G has nothing to do with photography.

Changes in industries, technologies and products

Looking back on 20 19, the mainstream manufacturer of traditional photographic equipment (cameras and lenses) * * introduced about 17 interchangeable lens cameras, with a huge number, and because of the 2020 Olympic Games, the product performance is higher than before and the levels are more diverse. It can be said that the choice of 20 19 traditional photographic equipment products is quite rich.

It is worth noting that, driven by the extreme segmentation of market and user demand, these mainstream manufacturers have basically completed the product transformation and the adjustment of R&D direction, found their own direction from a series of debates and puzzles in previous years, such as "SLR and no reaction" and "Quan Huafu and China format", and completed the operation of product strategy adjustment at the end of the year, or decided to fully transform to "Quan Huafu mirrorless cameras"; In the overwhelming products of Quan Huafu and mirrorless cameras, we decided to take "APS-C format" and "4433 medium format" as the breakthrough to find a more suitable world for ourselves. These products, which follow various new development ideas, have appeared in a large number of traditional photography manufacturers we are familiar with, and have been recognized by the market and users. It is not difficult to see that each company completed the exploration of products and markets in 20 19, and had a clear product strategy and market direction according to their own reality. This will be of great benefit to the development of traditional photographic equipment products and markets in 2020 and even in the next five years. Users will also benefit from it, and no longer worry about a series of problems such as subsequent upgrades and product life cycles brought about by product transformation.

In the category of traditional photographic equipment, domestic brands have accumulated a lot in 20 19. These domestic brand manufacturers, which mainly focus on lenses and accessories, are outstanding in product quality, update speed and new product quantity, and their distinctive product performance and functional characteristics are more attractive than the past "price advantage". The breakthrough idea of product specialization has achieved good results in domestic and foreign markets, as well as the reputation of users. In fact, it is the efforts of these domestic brand manufacturers that give photographers more product choices and richer creative means. In particular, more and more small and medium-sized commercial photography studios have got rid of the dilemma of high cost of special photographic equipment and heavy dependence on foreign imports, and provided high-quality photo and short video shooting services for many small and medium-sized enterprises in the booming e-commerce operation market. This is particularly concentrated and prominent in 20 19, and will continue to grow with the rapid development of various short video platforms.

Compared with traditional photographic equipment, new photographic equipment products represented by smart phones have been experiencing explosive growth in 20 19. The product levels launched by manufacturers are quite rich, and the number of new products released throughout the year is even more amazing. Only a few major domestic smartphone manufacturers have swept the product boom throughout the year, and various companies have introduced new products in turn, almost every month, and each new product can be listed simultaneously.

However, from the product itself, the new products released by smartphone manufacturers throughout the year mainly have the following product and technical features:

1. Multi-camera camera module has become the mainstream, which basically solves the shortage of "high-quality zoom" while improving the image quality;

2. Explore the practical application of image sensor and optical zoom lens with more than 40 million pixels;

3. Optical and electronic anti-shake systems are widely used, and "hybrid anti-shake system" is initially applied;

4. The "deep machine learning" technology of artificial intelligence is widely used in the imaging algorithm to improve the imaging quality and the photo straight-out effect through intelligence;

5.4K video has made many improvements in function and performance;

6. Improve the automatic subject identification, tracking and focusing, exposure optimization and other functions of the autofocus system through artificial intelligence technology, and enhance the usability of smart phones.

Although smartphone manufacturers are constantly strengthening the research and development of camera modules and related technologies, and adopting the marketing strategy of "carpet bombing" with the support of strong capital, it has brought a direct impact on traditional photographic equipment products, but their intention is not to "replace professional cameras" and impact professional photographic equipment, but to comply with user needs, technological development and changes in the business environment, and highlight and optimize the selling points of products in the entire consumer market. In fact, this is the requirement of the whole market environment and technical environment for smart phone products, especially when the 5G mobile network is coming, so that smart phone products have higher quality imaging capabilities and easier-to-use shooting functions. This is a mandatory requirement, not an option. This is the real reason for the explosion of 20 19 smart phone products and imaging technology. With the active efforts of these manufacturers, the early upgrade of smart phone products has made the general public enter an "image socialization" situation where it is easier to obtain high-quality images, more personalized expression and high-speed communication efficiency, and the quality of photos and videos taken by smart phone products has also been fundamentally improved.

Technological upgrading pays more attention to the promotion of "soft power"

The improvement of 20 19 image technology is of great significance. Different from previous years, no matter in the field of traditional photographic equipment such as cameras and lenses, or in the field of new photographic equipment such as smart phones, we are no longer blindly pursuing "bigger image sensors" and higher pixels, or updated image sensor hardware (it is difficult to fundamentally break through the existing back-illuminated and stacked CMOS technology before new materials and structures are developed).

In a word, among the many new products released by 20 19 manufacturers, the real hardware configuration upgrade is very limited, even not much different from 20 18, but there are a lot of actions in the software program of the imaging system. For example, the optimization of imaging algorithm for models with more than 40 million pixels, auto-focus system with intelligent detection function, more efficient and practical electronic anti-shake system, and high-resolution video shooting function with higher operation efficiency are the main themes of the development of 20 19 imaging technology.

Moreover, in the post-processing technology of photography, many artificial intelligence technologies are widely used. Some post-processing technology, recognition technology and rendering technology with high technical threshold in the past have been upgraded intelligently and automatically in the new post-processing editing software. Now the post-processing efficiency and output quality of users have been greatly improved, and the workload and processing cycle have been greatly reduced.

It is this "soft power" image technology upgrade that makes us see that the image processor performance of both cameras and mobile phones has been greatly improved. For example, it is obvious that high-end image processor chips (CPU and GPU) are released to lower-end product platforms, and the application of multiprocessor chip systems is to meet the higher data processing performance requirements brought by the new image processing system. What's more, in order to solve the problem of high heat generated by high-performance chips in the process of high data load processing, active radiators and other components are added to the narrow-range interchangeable lens camera.

The essence of all these changes is to strengthen the image processing system of cameras and smart phones. If you are familiar with the development of computers, it is not difficult to see that the current photographic equipment and image technology have been upgraded to a "high-performance computing stage" with more powerful functions and closer integration with artificial intelligence technology and network information technology. It can be judged that in the next few years, the development of photographic equipment will go along this road, and the imaging quality, performance and function of photographic equipment will be enhanced through algorithms and programs, and the hardware upgrade will conform to the needs of this trend and favor the computing performance requirements of camera image processor system and camera module control system of smart phones.

The popularity of 5G will bring great changes to photography.

Looking back at the products, industries and technologies of 20 19, we can see that every family is preparing for a greater "change", that is, the commercialization and commercialization of 5G network communication technology. In the past few years, whenever I talk about this, I will see many people asking: Is the 5G network communication technology related to photographic equipment? Now, even if the author doesn't explain much, many people can feel how big the relationship is and how drastic the changes brought to photography. Even if we don't understand it, the changes in the photographic equipment industry and technology in 20 19 are no longer groundless, and the sensitive market has given quite specific answers.

The communication technology of 5G network is simply an "ultra-high-speed instant communication network" with super bandwidth, just like paving a highway leading to the door, so every household will get a faster and more convenient mobile travel mode. Greater carrying capacity and more efficient data transmission will provide an unprecedented hardware technology environment for artificial intelligence technology based on big data and cloud computing. In this technical environment, the market and users' needs will change more dramatically, and they will all have more and higher-level needs because of the 5G network communication technology. For photography, the outlet of works will become broader and more diverse because of the demand for high-quality photos and videos on the network platform, and a deeper influence will also be born in response to changes.

For the simplest example, in the era of 4G network communication technology, watching video can achieve the smoothest "4K video with high compression rate" in play online. In the era of 5G network communication technology, more users will see the video content starting from "high bit rate 4K video" on mobile phones, tablet computers, Internet TV and other platforms, and the ultra-high resolution video content of 8K and higher specifications will become "commonplace" instead of unattainable now.

This will completely change the efficiency and quality of image transmission in the whole network. The existing websites, galleries and content platforms allow users to upload and watch these ultra-high resolution and ultra-high-definition video contents without scruple, and the audience will get used to watching, appreciating, acquiring and selling (buying) these high-quality video contents anytime and anywhere. In addition, all image-based services will be greatly upgraded, and all image acquisition equipment will inevitably need to be further upgraded to meet the demand.

But these are not problems, and the technical reserves and research and development speed of each company can be well solved. The biggest problem in the era of 5G network is "insufficient supply of high-quality video content", which cannot be solved simply by upgrading photographic equipment, but requires more producers capable of creating high-quality video content. Technology, at this level, will once again play a powerful role in promoting the "excellent environment" created by 5G network communication technology and artificial intelligence technology.

In fact, these products and technologies launched by 20 19 have already begun to appear, not only running through the production and research and development of cameras and smart phones, but also partially realizing the embryonic form of the above intelligent functions. What is particularly prominent is that not only photographic equipment manufacturers are strengthening the artificial intelligence and network attributes of their products, but also developers of image post-processing software and video clip processing software are scrambling on the road with the main direction of "mobile terminal of traditional desktop software", "cloud processing with high data volume (also known as cloud computing)" and "simplification and intelligence of operation and function". All this is directly related to the popularity of the upcoming 5G network communication technology. These examples cited by the author are just the tip of the iceberg in the whole change.