UKC

http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2012/12/06/3648607.htm

"...the likely disappearance of compact cameras."

While it's obvious how many photos are now being taken on smartphones, in the last couple of years I've also been surprised just how many people are using low end DSLRs and CSC-4/3 cams for general travel snapshots.

In reply to Damo:
Interesting, I went for a walk on Boxing Day and seemed to be the only person using a compact. Everyone else I saw had a dslr or camera phone.

In reply to Damo: Saturates the second hand market with DSLRS which means you can get a two year old body with a warranty for sensible money. Suits me.

In reply to Damo:

if there is a market then they will still make them

like watches, lots of gadgets have clocks, all phones seem to, yet we still wear watches ...

In reply to Damo: I have just bought a Canon A1300 compact because a) it has a viewfinder and b) it takes much higher resolution pictures because it has a better lense. These are weaknesses with all mobile phones and most compacts unless someone knows something different.

In reply to Damo:


There's a good argument for using a phone, especially when I can get an image like this from it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the1lemming/7347761538/in/photostream

Compare that with my dSLR

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the1lemming/7160082759/in/photostream

More often than not my phone is with me, while I may or may not have my compact or dSLR with me and as time progresses I am more and more reaching for the phone for its video capture features. Add to that the 5mp sensor as well and you can see why compacts are going the way of the dodo

In reply to Damo:
The phone cameras do a good job in good lighting, but fall down once the lighting is poor as the sensors are too physically small. They are still a long way off even a several year old compact camera in this regard.
Certainly very convenient though.

In reply to Damo:

The beat camera is the one you actually have with you..
I always have my phone, but have something more bulky if I'm planning on taking a photo.


I can see smartphones hurting the mp3 market as well.

In reply to Damo:

As soon as a phone or DSLR is shock proof and waterproof enough to sit on the outside of my harness while also taking good picks I'm interested. They are not there yet though.

In reply to cuppatea:


Yep. I think the only reason iPods still exist is because quite a lot of people don't have iPhones, they have Android phones, and the non-Apple music players just aren't as attractive as an iPod.

In reply to yeti:

Yes, but watches have a very strong fashion element that cameras do not, probably stronger than their utilitarian element nowadays, especially for women. Cameras are for just one thing.

Will there be a market? I'm not so sure, but I hope so - I hate carrying my DSLR anywhere much, my phone takes crap photos half the time and has crap battery life. For me, for climbing, there is no substiute for a good compact.

In reply to Damo:

mebbe i'm too old, but i'll stick to letting my walkman battery go flat and still having a working phone in me pocket which i charge once a week

In reply to Damo:
Until I bought a Panasonic FT3 I thought the same. It's easier to check the time on the camera that dig through layers to a watch. To roughly figure out direction it's easier to use the camera compass and the altimeter is handy when set up. The GPS has been used twice now for mountain rescue calls. If only I could get some music on it and be able to send texts....

i always forget the fashion element, i tend to think of function first, and.. i can't get on with mrs yetis ipod, the controlls are too vague

In reply to Damo:

I don't see compacts (or bridge cameras) being superceded by phones for Winter climbing for a good while yet. I don't think the weatherproofing on phones is as good and something like an S95 is far more controllable than a phone.
A decent compact gives you the ability to shoot in various modes and control the flash. I'd be scared to try and manipulate my iphone a few pitches up something.

In reply to Damo:

I still use my iPod becuase you can't fit many MP3s on an iPhone, the memory capacity is dire.

In reply to DancingOnRock:

Ah. The apple curse of early adopting planned obsolescence.
No space for an SD card like in an android device?


I'm only jealous, the iPhone is a very nice bit of tech.

In reply to cuppatea who wishes there was an edit button:

...and no iTunes on an android.

In reply to cuppatea: It's just like a PC or Swiss Army knife. Tries to do too many things.

In reply to Damo:

I'm not so sure that compacts will become extinct although I agree that sales will go down and the market will shrink. That said I bought my son a Nikon Coolpix for Xmas because I was impressed by it's small size and optical zoom is something that phone manufacturers just don't seem interested in. Further you can't play around with apertures and speeds on phone cameras. I did think that the way to go for zoom in phones was the way of the 40 something Mpixel camera that Nokia put in a phone this year but it doesn't seemed to have caught on, not yet anyway.

Back side illumination (BSI) technology, which is coming to phone cameras now, could make low light performance a bit better depending upon how folk want to trade off depth of field (higher f number) against low light performance.

I think that cameras will be less mass market than they were. Butthat not the same as no longer being sold

I think what is more intresting is the arrival of the camera thats a phone. Better ergonomic than a phone, more zoom and not much bigger

In reply to Damo:

I hope not. I really don't want to have to buy one of those new-fangled phones.

In reply to cuppatea:

Thank God for that

I don't think compact cameras will die out anytime soon, people are starting to get their photos printed again and seeing the poor results of a phone camera will probably lead to more using their old compact. While I certainly think they'll reign much less supreme than they have in the last ten years or so I can't see them going away, especially now that lots of decent models can be had for less than £100. I certainly see the same thing that the chap in the article was seeing, more interchangeable lens cameras. When I got my 350D in 2006 it was rare to spot someone with a DSLR whereas now everyone and their dog have one given the prices of the entry level DSLRs. It is also obvious that people don't have a clue anymore what the SLR is and why it is so good compared to other cameras as seen from questions in various forums I frequent.

In the long run I imagine the compact digital camera will mostly be replaced by either cameras taking better photos (SLRs, EVILs) or more convenient cameras (phones). Then I hope for every single ipad photographer to be lined up against a wall, they well be pretty far up the line when the revolution comes.

In reply to Damo:

Hard to argue with the numbers quoted there, I guess, BUT...I've seen the same "mobile phones will kill the compact digital" stories 4 or 5 years ago. Looking at the sub-£100 compact camera range in Argos, Asda or Tesco for example, it seems that there is more choice than ever before. But if people aren't buying, hey ho.

I wonder, actually, whether the sub-£100 compact camera market might take on a different mantle - that of the "back-up". A mobile phone is so important to people that in some scenarios they might not want to expose it to the world (inclement weather, crowded concert with people jostling etc.) and a chunky camera could almost be considered as being "disposable".

I had a Samsung Galaxy S2 and the camera on that was excellent...but ONLY under a very limited range of conditions (namely - daylight and well lit). I got some pics with it that surprised me with their quality e.g. http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-straggler/6908520647/in/set-7215762939817... but the vast majority were duffers.

Low end dSLRs are the more likely compact-killer. Or perhaps low end dSLRs in tandem with mobile phones. I still think the sub-£100 compact camera market will be healthy though, especially for the older generations who don't tend to go for fancy phones and don't want the fuss of a dSLR.