Are DSLR's Dying?

[Braineack]

Mine was never breathing to begin with.

All the advances in smartphones and compact cameras are to make them able to be as good as the worst DSLR.

When you take that tech, and then put it into a DSLR...

 

[KenC]

Didn't we just do DSLR vs. cell phone?

 

[usayit]

Had a discussion with some friends and a few of them commented that DSLR's are dying because of the innovations of some compact camera's and smartphones. Is this true? I was in the market for an upgrade but they had gotten me thinking. Just some opinions from folks who are in the photography world but may or may not necessarily use DSLR's all the time.

You will get a long debate over this topic mainly because people fail to establish context; Professionals (which? journalists, sports, studio, wedding?), Enthusiasts, typical consumers...

The answer to this question is rooted in which group of people are being discussed.

For the largest group, typical consumers, the answer is undeniably yes. They are being replaced by smartphones as several companies have reduced their P&S offerings in response to reduced sales.


Personally, I found that a DSLR based system no longer suites my needs many years ago; priorities changed in my life (no longer moving towards photography as a career, growing family, and peaking of performance in digital cameras across the board). But that's just me.

 

[astroNikon]

Didn't we just do DSLR vs. cell phone?

yes, all 11 pages of it ==> Are cell phones as good as DSLRs? My friend says 'yes'. | Photography Forum

 

[astroNikon]

I love my cell phone and pics. I use it all the time, and video too.
I don't even use my P&S at all anymore.
But for my more upscale work, it just doesn't and in many instances, CAN'T do things I want it to.

 

[photoguy99]

It's so interesting to see the reasoning here. DSLRs have certain more or less unique capabilities, therefore they will continue to be a viable product.

There's a step missing here. It's the same step that's always missing in the DSLRs versus whatever arguments.

 

[Solarflare]

Lets start with the obvious:

Sensor size can only be compensated by even more sensor size.

Why ? Because any advancement that makes a smaller sensor perform as good as a larger sensor will also be available for the the larger sensor, thus the larger sensor will again perform better than the smaller sensor, for again the same distance as before.

There is no way to avoid this.

Second, you cannot improve ad infinum. You cannot reach more than 100% efficiency, and you cannot get rid of quantuum noise. Once these barriers have been reached, the race is over.

And what is true about the improvements for the sensor goes for the improvements of optics just as well.

Had a discussion with some friends and a few of them commented that DSLR's are dying because of the innovations of some compact camera's and smartphones. Is this true? I was in the market for an upgrade but they had gotten me thinking. Just some opinions from folks who are in the photography world but may or may not necessarily use DSLR's all the time.

LOL

And thats all there is to say about it.

Your friends might talk about the regular Joe, who might consider smartphones sufficient for his needs. But the regular Joe never used DSLRs in the first place, and the regular simply doesnt care that better cameras would give him better image quality.

Is DSLR slowly being bested by mirroless ?

Thats not what the OP asked.

The OP talked about "compacts and smartphones".

My understanding from reading articles over the past few months is a lot of vamera companies are going to stop making P&S cameras since cell phone cameras are improving so much. [...]

Wrong, they stop making P&S because they dont sell, since the difference in image quality between smartphones and P&S is too small. P&S typically lose a lot of potential image quality from the sheer fact that they have an optical zoom.

 

[waday]

 

[astroNikon]

but sometimes it's good to rediscuss things again.
and again
and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again

okay, well maybe not. lol

 

[photoguy99]

I for one always enjoy watching the fanboys fight to the death to prove that DSLRs are somehow the pinnacle of human achievement.

 

[Didereaux]

for the mentally challenged with disposable income that in the past few years have jumped to DSLRs (so they could look cool) then the other simple enough for a newborn armadillo cameras will indeed replace the DSLR. But for the forseeable future DSLR's and their extraordinary lens will be around fro the real photography, and photographers.

 

[waday]

but sometimes it's good to rediscuss things again.
and again
and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again

okay, well maybe not. lol

'Delete topic' was my position in the first thread. I'm going to post it again.. and again and again... as needed.

 

[Braineack]

I still dont see why we all drive big SUVs when you can buy a motorcycle or SMART car...

 

[goodguy]

I for one always enjoy watching the fanboys fight to the death to prove that DSLRs are somehow the pinnacle of human achievement.

What, are you trying to say its not ?

 

[goodguy]

I still dont see why we all drive big SUVs when you can buy a motorcycle or SMART car...

Well one reason will be..........motorcycle/smart car driving on one side of the road and SUV on the other, both vehicle collide in accident.
SUV driver walks away from accident, motorcycle/smart car is driven to hospital or morgue.

But you do make a good point, from what I read only a fraction of the gas we burn is burned to move passengers, most of it is just to move the mass of the vehicle thus the lighter the vehicle the less gas we burn.
Not exactly the topic of this thread but I had to add my 2c on your comment.