Nikon SLR History

OK, history's in the past - it's happened, so what, yada yada. But look how far photography has come, just in the Nikon range alone.

Now project that out another 10 years, 20 years, 50 years. Where are we heading towards?

In the digital world, the obvious answer is more pixels - that's happening now, that's a given. What else will come with it? We're going to see a continuing improvement in optics, that's pretty much certain too. I think ergonomics will improve. Cameras will get lighter, cheaper, easier to use, while at the same time having more smarts, making themselves adapt to the person behind the lens.

We're going to see more cameras in more places, more devices. Cameras in phones are just the beginning, we'll be seeing them regularly built into PDAs and laptops, into vehicles, into homes.

Display technology will get better, more portable, lighter.

We're going to see more (and better) convergence - devices that serve more than one function, and serve them all as well as a dedicated device can be expected to.

But always, there's going to be a need for a real person, with a vision, and a desire to communicate behind the lens - the human who takes the photo, not the tool she uses to realise the vision in her head.