The Leica Studio in New York City was housed at Production Daylight Studio during Photo Plus East 2010 on October 28 & 29. Guests had the opportunity to try out the Leica S-System and we got a chance to catch up with Scott Geffert, President of the Center for Digital Imaging Inc (CDI). Scott shared his thoughts on imaging standards and the Leica S2 in the above video and excerpt from CDI’s whitepaper on “Standards and the Leica S2” below.

“The Leica S2 is unique in ways that go beyond the innovative form factor and optical precision. While most camera manufacturers force users to use proprietary file formats and software tools, the Leica S2 is unique; it is designed from the ground up to support open standards and the native DNG RAW file support.

When you purchase a digital camera, you also buy into the software workflow that the company has provided. While popular RAW file processors read many of these file types, each will render the same image differently, and converting files to the more open DNG file format is time consuming and awkward. Most cameras ship with some form of proprietary capture/editing software. Breaking out of these embedded workflows can often lead to problems; for example, older proprietary file formats can easily become obsolete in as little as three to five years. In most cases, the software drivers and host computer will become obsolete before the camera. The Leica S2 does not rely on proprietary software, so your investment is inherently more stable.

CDI is working with federal agencies in the US and overseas agencies to help accelerate the formal standardization of digital capture workflow. We are currently working with the industry to build in support for standards in all imaging tools. One area of concern is the lack of standards related to RGB readouts. Ideally, if the industry could standardize on L* tone scaling, users worldwide would enjoy an immediate benefit as we could all work to the same tonal description. Leica is the first manufacturer to take a step in the right direction and we fully appreciate their effort.”

-Leica Internet Team

You can learn more about Scott’s work toward imaging standards by visiting CDI’s website: http://www.cdiny.com/news.html.