Debunking of Specsmanship: Progress on ISO/TC42 Standards for Digital Capture Imaging Performance

For serious imaging practitioners, the benefits of variety and economy in digital capture device selection come as a mixed blessing, among dizzying performance specification hype. This “specsmanship” has created a bazaar-like atmosphere where manufacturers’ claims of resolution, speed, and dynamic range resonate like those of so many market barkers. Through regulation, education, and enablement, sciencebased performance standards vetted through ISO/TC42 will allow many of these claims to be supported or refuted. This paper details the technical content of these efforts and the challenges required to make these standards rugged and easily implemented, as an aid toward less ambiguous and informed device selection.