The dawn of software-defined photography

In recent years, every time Apple announces new products in their events, it's just a matter of time until someone shares a comment about how disappointing the event was, and that without Steve Jobs things are no longer what they used to be. I disagree with this. To begin with, I think they suffer from the "good old days syndrome", romanticizing the past based on distorted memories.

It serves no purpose other than feeling bad about the present. This will inevitably make them miss the point when something great has just happened in front of their eyes, only to realize it later, when it's in the past.

I have a feeling that every Apple announcement has a little bit of that. In some cases it's easily noticeable but in other cases not so much, with announcements of products which the potential will only be fully understood in the months — or years — to come. I think that's what we just witnessed in the Apple event on September 12.

Apple called it "a new era of photography" and a number of professional photographers probably looked at that with skepticism. After all, Apple doesn't make a "real camera", do they? Well, perhaps they don't. But it looks like they are smart enough to realize that the focus should not be on the hardware, but rather on the software.

It's possible that this realization came after the memes mocking Phil Schiller's "deeper pixels" from the iPhone X event. If at that time the "deeper pixels" inevitably brought the focus to the hardware, last week's announcement screams that the software is what matters and I think we're at the dawn of what I like to call "software-defined photography". While the term is not new, it is Apple who is shaping it, and others will soon follow.

The announcement of the iPhone Xs with advanced software-defined professional photography features is in sharp contrast with Canon's announcement of its EOS R mirrorless camera system just a week before.

For those of you not following Canon, when it comes to professional photography they have been resting on the SLR (Single Lens Reflex) mirror system for decades. For the most part, they kept betting on their outstanding line of lenses to foster consumer loyalty. Most of their recent announcements were centered on the gear instead of software. While their software is not the worst available in the market, it lacks numerous features which they eventually catch up when their competition shows up for the game.

Talking about Canon's competition, they have not been very inspiring in recent years. Nikon announced their Z series mirrorless system at the end of August, with very similar characteristics to Canon's EOS R. The moves from both Nikon and Canon were predictable: they are reacting to Sony's frequent product announcements and, in particular, to the release of the A9 and the A7 Mark III systems earlier this year. Sony has been churning out new cameras at an impressive speed, producing enough losers to increase the chances of getting a winner. A startup mindset?

While Sony's hardware specifications are puissant, what Canon and Nikon seem to fail to realize is that Sony's advantage and growth in market share is in large part driven by the software that's in their hardware. In a mirrorless system with the sensor constantly exposed to the light, the software has the opportunity to take center stage in the artistic creation process, and Sony has been making this a reality for its consumers. An example of how the software helps in this process is Sony's eye-tracking autofocus, which makes it easier to achieve one of the foundations of portraiture: nail the focus on the dominant eye. The photographer can now concentrate on the composition and light gradients to bring his idea to life, not spending time with technicalities. Canon delivered a similar feature but it only works in single-shot mode. Nikon didn't bother tweaking their software to include that.

Despite the technical differences between Canon, Nikon and Sony, I view them as a tight group possibly in a quadrant with a high-number of hardware capabilities but offset by a relatively meager number of software features. In the last years, almost every home-run in professional photography products have been achieved with software. Niche systems from Hasselblad and Phase One brought in disruptive user interfaces for their camera operations menus and post-production software, respectively. Even royal-blood Leica started flexing their muscles in software with a first touch-screen display, with pinch and zoom capabilities, in their latest M10-P body — for those willing to spare $7,995 to try.

Apple on the other hand is limited in what they can offer with the hardware, mostly because of size limitations of their product. The mandatory smaller sensor and tight space for glass gives them very limited possibilities to compete with big bodies. Until someone figures the viability of compressing light waves, Apple's only resort is software and they are getting pretty good at that! When they introduced portrait mode the experience was cool, but still too digital and far from being a "bokehlicious" look. The announcement from September 12 is a leap forward and it demonstrates the power of software-defined when you have good brains behind the software.

It is a tenet in photography that the best camera is the one you have with you. Apple has an advantage there with a number of cameras sold that is now counted in the billions. Now they just need to make sure their cameras deliver the best photos, and every photographer knows that is not the gear that makes a good photo. As etched by French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, "the mind's eye" is what makes good photography. Apple is sending a clear message that software can remove all the obstacles between the mind's eye and the final print of a photograph.