Digital Cameras can't compete with Mobile Phones!

[Theloststory]

I always prefer a separate camera because of lensing and superior image quality which I can hope to sell one day. Yes cameras are expensive but they last that much longer.

I have a Fujifilm XPro1 which was bought for Rs 135,000/- almost 5/6 years ago. Still I feel no need to upgrade. Dur8ng this time I must have changed a minimum of 2 phones.

Phone photos look good on phone. The moment you open them on photoshop or affinity photo you start seeing the flaws.

 

[Yogesh Sarkar]

I always prefer a separate camera because of lensing and superior image quality which I can hope to sell one day. Yes cameras are expensive but they last that much longer.

I have a Fujifilm XPro1 which was bought for Rs 135,000/- almost 5/6 years ago. Still I feel no need to upgrade. Dur8ng this time I must have changed a minimum of 2 phones.

Phone photos look good on phone. The moment you open them on photoshop or affinity photo you start seeing the flaws.

This is why camera manufacturers are in deep trouble.

Many of their DSLR/Mirror less camera users have not upgraded their cameras in years. Innovation in sensor technology has slowed down over the years and users like you and me have no incentive to upgrade, unless our cameras break down.

Even now, entry level DSLRs lack 4k video. Canon does this to protect their higher end cameras. However, when a Rs. 15,000 phone has 4k video and a DSLR does not, it makes the DSLR look ancient.

 

[Theloststory]

That’s interesting. There was a time we shot on film rolls (I still do), and cameras would last over 30 years (my Canon A1 and Nikon FM3A are perhaps each over 25 years old) and worked fine. And camera manufacturers kept growing. SLRs were bought by serious users and point and shoot film cameras by families and holidayerz etc.

Today the family and holiday crowd has move on to celll phones. Serious or. Even semi serious people still buy SLRs, now the digital types. So the non serious camera markets have moved on to cell phones.

Plus, you have more entrants in the SLR space. Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Sigma etc never made SLRs in the film era. You have that much more competition.

I think camera manufacturers have unreasonable growth targets thrust upon them by shareholders. Almost everyone I know is buying an SLR or already has one. S I guess they have to be reasonable about growth forecasts.

 

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Diffference is that the new markets were growing at that time. Not everyone had a camera then, almost everyone has a camera now.

 

[Theloststory]

Yes that’s why growth projections need to be more sane these days...

 

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Yes that’s why growth projections need to be more sane these days...

This is what they are doing by issuing statements like these.

However, if the scope of growth is less, there will be even less money available for R&D.

If the new sensors are only marginally better than earlier ones, there will be less incentive for people to upgrade.

Eventually, it comes down to the chicken and egg debate.

 

[Theloststory]

Hmmm not sure. I think things can still be managed. We have over glamourised over sized institutions. For a long time (before all the mergers and etc), for example, niche auto makers like Porsche and Lamborghini or even Pagani have very little volume but enormous profits and they are completely R&D driven organisations.

I had once read Porsche had as much profits as BMW but with much less margins. What may happen is availability of such products and service etc may become less easily available. But that’s ok. In many years of owning Nikon and Fuji cameras I have had to service them once, and that’s because my camera fell off the trip and broke the lens and mount (complete,y my mistake for not locking the tripod head tightly enough).

Cameras may become more expensive (the excellent new Z7 is over 3 lakhs for body only), but Pros and semi Pros and enthusiastic amateurs will still buy them.

But you are right, some players may be knocked off onthe way, like Rolleiflex etc.

 

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Majority of the luxury and sports car companies are now owned by companies like Tata, Geely, Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen etc..

Because even though per unit margin is huge compared to regular cars, yet, investment required for R&D is even higher.

This is why Nikon stopped developing its own sensors and Canon has lagged behind, while Sony, with its vast array of consumer products is the main driving force not only behind DSLR/Mirrorless sensors, but also behind mobile phone camera sensors.

 

[cat]

I think those companies (and Porsche maybe a prime example) also need the benefits of large-scale purchasing power, and they also benefit from R&D done by the big companies. (Like, for example, in meeting emissions standards.)

 

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Samsung Galaxy S10 will launch in a couple of days. It will come with 3 cameras; ultra-wide, wide and telephoto. There are mobile phones, which already come with similar setup.

These mobile phones I feel are another step in the direction of completely killing off compact digital cameras. After all, major advantage cameras had over mobile phones was the optical zoom, now even that is being offered in phones. Leaving the average Joe with little to no incentive, to buy a camera.