Of Niepce, the Lumieres, and the T2i, or Why HDSLRs are good for everyone.

171 years, 2 months, and 4 days ago, photography, or rather, the photographic process, was made public by the French government. This meant everyone would be able to learn and practice the art of capturing an image forever.

The following 70 years were years of great advancement in photography, both as an art, and as a technique, and as a technology. 

We've spoken earlier of Eadweard Muybridge, the british photographer who proved that there's a moment in a horse's gallop during which none of its four legs touches the ground, using 24 cameras that captured an image in progression. This could be considered the first motion picture made using photography, but it would not be the last. 

By the outbreak of World War I, cinematography had become a well established science and art form, aided by the invention of film photography, film perforations, and the development of fast shutter speeds, all advances that provided the basis for modern photojournalism.

For a while, nothing happened. Then, we found a way to capture images on a device mad of silicon and copper wire. The process was deemed too sloppy for photography, but we said "hey, nobody'll notice if we use it in the movies. After all, the images are moving anyway!". So, video was born. And it changed the way people looked back on their vacation forever. Fast forward 20 years, and we discover that the small silicon and copper wire devices, called CCVs, were all grown up now, and the images they could process were crisp, and beautiful. And so, we began taking pictures electronically.

And now, people are complaining because, the successors of those cameras that were able to capture still images electronically, are now also able to capture High Definition Video!

The point I am trying to reach here is that photography and cinematography are two closely bound sciences/disciplines/art forms. Without one, the other wouldn't exist, and the progress made in one field benefits the other one. It was only a matter of time before someone realized that SLRs should be able to record video. If anything, I'm surprised by the fact no manufacturer addressed the issue before. After all, SD video has been available in point-&-shoots for years. 

Purism, in my humble opinion, is a no-no in photography and cinematography. Photography is science and innovation, the ultimate means of self-expression, humanity's very own time machine. Cinematography is, simply put, the art form with which most human beings identify themselves, apart from music. There's no space or time in photography for a status quo. What once was considered mediocre in photography can now be considered experimental.

This new wave of semi-pro and Pro cameras being able to capture HD with high quality interchangeable lenses is just the next step in the history of two sciences that have been evolving side by side for 120 years at the least. Getting in its way, may very well cut short the development of the next big leap in the history of photography.