Leica and Nikon with Adobe content authenticity technology

Are the images real? It’s hard with digital images, in the end you can never really be sure if someone has been tinkering with the original images at some point. The Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) wants to change that. It aims to increase trust in digital content and to curb the spread of fake news.

At the Adobe Max creativity conference, the manufacturer showed on the one hand that it is becoming easier and faster to manipulate images in Photoshop so well that you can hardly see what has been changed. But Adobe also wants to take care of the other boss and leads the CAI with over 800 partners. The goal is to strengthen trust in digital content through provenance, i.e. the provision of data on the origin of a digital medium.

CAI is now in a position to conclude agreements with Leica and Nikon camera manufacturers: in the future, CAI’s technology will be integrated into Nikon’s Leica M11 camera with viewfinder and DSLR Z 9. The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard, developed in collaboration with the CAI, will be implemented for the first time directly in the cameras as part of the cooperation. Photographers can use it to provide comprehensive information on when, how and where a photo was taken, from recording to finished editing.

“Leica and Nikon are among the world’s leading camera manufacturers,” said Dana Rao, Adobe’s chief trust officer and general counsel. “Through collaboration with CAI, Leica and Nikon are offering their customers the technology to provide their images with a certificate of origin and thus create a chain of authenticity from the image to the cloud. We are very pleased that Leica and Nikon are supporting CAI to strengthen trust in digital content. “

The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard, developed in collaboration with the CAI, will be implemented for the first time in cameras as part of the cooperation. The CAI standard must be established through partnerships and the wide availability of free CAI open source tools that support them.

Leica and CAI

Leica is already a member of the CAI. The expanded partnership aims to raise awareness of CAI’s concerns and technology and make them available to more photographers. The Leica innovation and development team implemented the C2PA standard in a Leica M11. Each image is assigned a counterfeit-proof signature that documents essential information such as the camera model, manufacturer, and image content. This is to ensure complete proof from registration to completion. The first Leica cameras available with the C2PA standard are expected to be delivered in 2023.

»Many of the most famous moments in world history have been captured by Leica cameras. However, digital photography makes it much more difficult to determine the authenticity of the visual content, “says Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG.” With the integration of C2PA technology, we want to help build trust. in digital content. “

Nikon and CAI

Nikon is the first camera manufacturer to join CAI and C2PA. Using CAI technology, Nikon also wants to help promote the adoption of the technology of origin. The Nikon Z 9 is equipped with C2PA-compliant proving technology, and Nikon also uses the CAI open source toolkit to implement the provenance feature. Nikon also has plans to equip an upcoming camera model with the technology of provenance.

“We are convinced that fake news, plagiarism and unauthorized use of images are an urgent challenge for photographers, companies, but also for our society”, says Keiji Oishi, Head of the Imaging Business Unit, UX Planning Department of Nikon. »As an imaging company, we want to contribute to fulfilling our professional and social responsibility in this area.”