Standard Setting At PMA

By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 3/13/2006

Orlando, Fla. — As digital cameras settle into mainstream acceptance, manufacturers looked to push them deeper into the “connected home” through a series a standards to ensure interoperability between imaging devices and longevity in the face of ever-changing platforms and file formats.

Kodak's ImageLink standard, which allows third-party digital cameras to connect to its printer docks, won broader — though quiet — support from Pentax, Olympus and Nikon. The three camera companies released models that can connect to Kodak's EasyShare printer docks including the Nikon Coolpix S5 and S6, the Pentax Optio M10 and the Olympus FE-130.

These models all ship with a custom dock insert to connect them to Kodak's printer dock and will include language on the packaging indicating they can connect to ImageLink-enabled printer docks.

Kodak, along with Fujifilm and Konica Minolta, also announced a standard called Everplay to “ensure compatibility of digital photos and motion images across a broad range of consumer products for future generations.”

The royalty-free standard, formerly called PASS, was designed to ensure that as file formats change, images will remain accessible to end users.

The PictSync Promoters group, comprised of Epson, HP, IDS, Olympus, PortalPlayer and Samsung, announced a set of guidelines “to increase interoperability between digital cameras, camera phones and portable media players.”

The guidelines are designed to allow devices that capture and/or display digital images to interact without a PC intermediary, either through a USB connection or via memory card. The standard does anticipate wireless connectivity as well.

The International Imaging Industry Association (I3A) launched the Consumer Photo Preservation Initiative “to take the mystery out of preserving digital images by educating consumers about the risks, nature and proper methodology for storing, cataloging and preserving digital images.”

According to the I3A, digital camera manufacturers, telecomm carriers and software companies had a hand in the project whose primary goal is educating consumers through a Web-site. The site will extol the virtues of and explain the options for image preservation.