Death of the point and shoot?

I'm glad I am not the only one. I am even tempted at times to pick up a cell phone blocker that is the size of a cell phone fits in your pocket and blocks out cell phone reception within a 100 feet of you.

Where do you find that gadget at? Sounds awesome.

But to get back on topic,
I actually think that the DLSR will kill off P&S cameras. It's crazy the amount of people lugging around DLSR cameras in my area.

A quick google reports:

HowStuffWorks "How Cell Phone Jammers Work"
Cell phone jammer :: Mobile phone jammers :: Online store :: Buy here !

I didn't even think they existed... I might get one myself. If anything is to keep them away from me when I'm trying to have a quiet cup of coffee at the cafe. I wish they would deploy them all along route 80 here in Jersey (with signs posted). I'd say a good percentage of fatal accidents are caused by people (police and truckers included) on cell phones.
 
Is the cell phone camera killing the point and shoot camera market?
...
The smart phone already wiped out the dedicated palm pilot and similar decivices thanks to internet browsing, business applications, and other computer functionality.

About 10 years ago, I had a discussion with a colleague that was similar. It started out with

Will cell phones be integrated into PDAs or will PDAs be integrated into cell phones?

Windows CE (becomes mobile) and Palm O/S all started out on PDAs then eventually those PDAs where integrated with equipment to make phone calls. The PDA interfaces remained the same, the basic PDA shape remained the same... So I think you have it backwards in that respect. In other words, smart phones have more in common with PDAs than with the traditional cell phone. The only reason why regular cell phones still exist is their price point and packaging.

This is the same with cell phones versus P&S cameras.

Will cell phones be integrated into P&S or will P&S be integrated into cell phones.

Just like cell phones being integrated into PDAs, I think eventually cell phones will be integrated into P&S cameras. Why?

Packaging is the main determining factor in my opinion. You can shrink a cell phone to a very small unit and it is still usable. You can't shrink a PDA that small because at some point it becomes unusable; too small of a screen too small of a keyboard. Same for a cell phone and P&S. You can shrink a cell phone and it is still usable. A camera can't be shrunk as small because of limitations of the screen, optics, and sensor size.


The ability to shrink the equipment needed for cell phones and to do it cheaply is the driving factor. The largest part of a traditional cell phone is the battery and human interfaces. I can see cell phones being integrated into almost anything... I've seen cell phones the size of keychains being sold in Europe. Same with wifi.... wifi in kitchen appliances for example.
 
At the end of the day, the larger lens and the bigger sensor takes the better picture. Size will ultimately limit what a cell camera can accomplish. That's why we're seeing more bridge cameras and P&S cameras with SLR-like features. Relying solely upon a cell camera will be fine for the MySpace Kissy Face pictures taken by ditzy teenage girls, but I doubt we'll see a shift from the P&S with many other segments.
 
Just yesterday I was discussing with a friend at work that he needs to have a P&S, and his quick response was "no way, I have a camera in my phone" he is not about the quality, but about recording an event. Yes you could say the same about a real camera, but the convenience of a one-do-all instrument is what he looks for.
 
I am even tempted at times to pick up a cell phone blocker that is the size of a cell phone fits in your pocket and blocks out cell phone reception within a 100 feet of you.

I believe you can be fined ludicrous amounts in pretty much every western country you are caught using one of these.
 
Actually, I believe the phone camera WILL become much higher quality (I remember my first cell-phone which was in an over-the-shoulder bag and was only a phone ... nothing else). Just as the quality of P&S cameras has gotten better and the size has gotten smaller, what's to keep the manufacturers from combining that with a phone?
 
Actually, I believe the phone camera WILL become much higher quality (I remember my first cell-phone which was in an over-the-shoulder bag and was only a phone ... nothing else). Just as the quality of P&S cameras has gotten better and the size has gotten smaller, what's to keep the manufacturers from combining that with a phone?

Note... Cell phones have shrunk at a faster rate than high quality cameras. A typical DSLR or even P&S is still relatively the same size as several years ago. A typical modern cell phone is miniscule compared to the analog cell phones of several years ago.
 
Actually, I believe the phone camera WILL become much higher quality (I remember my first cell-phone which was in an over-the-shoulder bag and was only a phone ... nothing else). Just as the quality of P&S cameras has gotten better and the size has gotten smaller, what's to keep the manufacturers from combining that with a phone?

Note... Cell phones have shrunk at a faster rate than high quality cameras. A typical DSLR or even P&S is still relatively the same size as several years ago. A typical modern cell phone is miniscule compared to the analog cell phones of several years ago.


I dunno ... I have a 3 mp Canon Powershot G1 and a 4mp G2 -- they are NOT small ... now you can pack a 3mp or 4mp camera into a small space. The size of the optics, though, are limiting.
 
In the case of camera's, form follows function. If anything, the better camera's are getting bigger. And while a new P&S is a lot thinner than it's predecessor from even 3 or 4 years ago, lenses are growing and zooming out further. And there's a BIG uptick in the bridge camera market. People not ready for a DSLR are not thinking cell phone camera, they're thinking something like a Canon Powershot or a Sony Cybershot... or a Fuji Finepix. It's no coincidence they have the same general shape as a DSLR, only smaller.
 
Yeah, you have to realise cameras are designed to be comfortably held in the palm of your hand. Cameras not fitting on a coin has nothing to do with technical advancement, whereas they in fact could quite easily be built to fit on a coin.

The modern mobile is the same when you think about it. They haven't gotten any smaller in the last 3 years because if they did it would start becoming hard to use, they just cram more into the same space. Just like cameras have gotten higher and higher quality, phones have gotten more and more features (capacitive touchscreen anyone?)
 
I had the chance to take 3 pictures of the same subject.

First a 5mp Samsung Omnia touchphone.
SNC00238rs.jpg


Then a 6 year old 3.2mp Olympus P&S
P1010001rs.jpg


And using my Canon T1i as a P&S
IMG_1606rs.jpg


No surprises here for me. An old, lower megapixel P&S still took better pictures than a new higher megapixel camera phone, and of course, a DSLR blew both away.
 
This reminds me of another question I posed to an old friend, and avid outdoor/wildlife and nature photographer.

I proposed to him, that one day, digital camera's might catch up, or overtake film camera's. That was in the early 90's if I remember correctly.

He was a very intelligent individual, and also a great photographer, and I thought that he was going to choke to death, he was laughing so hard, at such a "stupid notion". I vaguely remember him saying that the resolution would never, ever, reach anything near that of film.

I still shoot almost exclusively film, and I haven't seen or hear of him for years, he kind of disappeared off the face of the earth, but I would like to remind him of that conversation, today. Errr...ahhh....I never gamble on what technology might bring in the distant future. Hell, I never thought Pong and Space Invaders would overtake pinball machines....

Only take sides on these issues, if you're old enough to be pushing up daisies in another 10 or so years, or claim that you're senile and don't remember the conversation.

Me, I'll keep my money in my pocket, and will make no bets either way.

J:mrgreen:
 
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This reminds me of another question I posed to an old friend, and avid outdoor/wildlife and nature photographer.

I proposed to him, that one day, digital camera's might catch up, or overtake film camera's. That was in the early 90's if I remember correctly.

He was a very intelligent individual, and also a great photographer, and I thought that he was going to choke to death, he was laugiing so hard, at such a "stupid notion". I vaguely remember him saying that the resolution would never, ever, reach anything near that of film.

I still shoot almost exclusively film, and I haven't seen or hear of him for years, he kind of disappeared off the face of the earth, but I would like to remind him of that conversation, today. Errr...ahhh....I never gamble on what technology might bring in the distant future. Hell, I never thought Pong and Space Invaders would overtake pinball machines....

Only take sides on these issues, if you're old enough to be pushing up daisies in another 10 or so years, or claim that you're senile and don't remember the conversation.

Me, I'll keep my money in my pocket, and will make no bets either way.

J:mrgreen:

My sentiments exactly!
 
I agree.
I can almost guarantee that phones will easily surpass the quality of our current top of the line P&S's... in the future.

Now, I will also say that I believe the cameras will continue to advance and thus keep ahead of the phone counterparts... but I think if you mark this moment in history and the average IQ now... it will be rubbish in the future.
 

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