Nikon announce Image Authentification - quietly

Nikon has announced an updated version of its top-of-the-line D2X digital SLR. With a Massive 12.4-megapixel CMOS sensor, it is expected to sell into the professional (especially sports market) for $4,699 starting next month.

Like the D2X, the Nikon D2Xs has two continuous-shooting modes; one captures up to 5 frames per second at 12.4 megapixels, the other captures up to 8 frames per second but crops the image down to 6.8 megapixels--this is especially useful for pro sports photographers.

New features include save custom camera settings onto a CompactFlash card and load them onto any Nikon D2Xs. You can also upload custom tone curves to the camera, choose the length of time that the focus-tracking feature tracks a moving subject (also great for sports photographers), and program the automatic ISO setting to boost the camera's light sensitivity (a.k.a. ISO number) when the camera drops below a certain shutter speed. Nikon has made the Adobe RGB color space available in all of the camera's three color modes and added the same black-and-white mode that appears in its 10.2-megapixel D200.

The most fascinating addition is Nikon's new Image Authentication function, which will probably not matter outside of legal or law enforcement circles ... they say. Available as an optional package, it comes with special software that reads information recorded to a USB key during image capture to ensure that the image, EXIF data, date and time stamps, and GPS information have not been altered since capture. Great if you are with a law enforcement agency to provide protection for the evidence chain.

How long before - as in photocopiers , ink jet printers, where hidden, traceable data is printed on every page printed your digital photo files can be encoded (and accessed) silently with such details , date , time, GPS .....?