There are buzz words and genuinely useful features
No doubt, that's true.
And, to be clear, I made no attempt in my post to discriminate against or for such terms.
I was only pointing out the real world fact the mass market camera industry is no different than the mass market electronics industry as a whole.
Or the mass market breakfast cereal industry.
Or the mass market laundry detergent industry.
They are all filled with "buzzwords" which are intended to catch a busy consumer's attention when the consumer is confused by the sheer number of "buzzwords" and models floating around the mass market pool.
And, like it or not, the mass market pool is the pool most of us must swim in due to financial resources.
The question then is, how do you avoid being struck and possibly taken down by all the flotsam and recycled junk occupying so much of the surface water of the crowded pool we all are in? Where do you go to draw some oxygen?
You ignore "buzzwords" at your own peril IMO.
The market is awash in them as
must be the case when new models are introduced at least once per year.
Each new model must be superior to the old model or else there's no reason to buy new, right?
And buying is the most often cited reason for looking.
Oh, there's that small % who want their new gear high each month, but they - those folks who constantly suffer from GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) - are really a very small minority of the buying public and they are not dedicated to much other than buzzing around in circles citing new "buzzwords".
Everyone - every manufacturer, every retailer, and every reviewer - is competing for a very small slice of the pie which is growing distinctly smaller in overall size as the market shifts to other interests. The market for DSLR's is seeing the floor drop out from beneath its feet.
Manufacturers are in a bit of a panic at the moment as to how to generate "buzz" over their new (old actually) product.
To compete, one traditional method is to create ... "buzzwords".
This has been the (Japanese) manufacturing concept for the last fifty years.
The reviewing press likes this technique since it gives them another artificial judgement to make. Often times, the manufacturers follow the lead of the magazines by responding to the "buzzwords" created by the press. They tend to feed along with one another like hyenas and vultures sharing parts of a rotting carcass.
When reading a review, you must remember one very vital fact, the reviewing industry is also struggling for its life.
No one will return to a reviewer who says something along the lines of, "In the end, I found the Yakamakai SD110-II to be an enjoyable product. I did not, however, find a single thing about the device which proved to be one bit better than any other component I've reviewed in the last five years. Buy it if you like it, it doesn't really matter."
So the reader stresses over specs and "buzzwords" hoping to find the review/reviewer which affirms their (largely already pre-conceived) opinions.
"Buzzwords" serve to separate this year's from last year's, his from my own and your's from their's.
People who like to debate which is better and why Joe is an idiot for buying "X", like "buzzwords" which they can pull out as weapons and they will defend them whenever the topic is brought up in a forum or around the table at a bar.
In the end, "buzzwords" are simply "buzzwords".
IMO alarms should go off in the consumer's mind when they cross paths with a "buzzword". They are, at their most basic purpose, tricks used to lure the unsuspecting buyer into a web from which they cannot extract themself.
The op can do their own research on the pro's and con's of lens based or sensor based image stabilization. It's certainly not difficult to find such discussions and comparisons.
Rather quickly, my opinion is you can take any technology and make it work
IF you are willing to devote sufficient amounts of time, effort and cash to its development.
Therefore, if you wish to develop a "buzzword based technology" which can be set apart from all the rest, you can do so. However, applying more time, effort and cash to its development does not mean the technology works "Better" than any other.
It may not (probably won't, in fact) mean it is less complex or more reliable and less costly to repair should it fail.
It simply means you can develop a new "buzzword".
Which gives the retailers something to talk about, the reviewers something to discuss and measure and the buyers to hang their hat on to prove they possess the superior abilities which allow them to seek out and bring down a perceived "superior product".
Yada yada.
The village can eat again!
This is simply how the mass market electronics industry has operated for the last half century.
Specifically, I would not have expected a line such as Nikon or Canon to have produced anything other than lens based IS. Nor would I have expected a manufacturer on the (rather small) scale of Pentax to not make the attempt to find another route to (more or less) the same destination.
"When did weather sealing and image stabilisation become purely "buzz words?" They are in fact premium features."
Another voice from the mulling crowd. Populism has its price.
I never suggested any feature could not be useful to
someone. These ideas are all market tested so it stands to reason someone thought "X" was beneficial.
However, like a good lawyer or a good huckster, benefits are perceived by way of how they are presented. Ever hear the phrase, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak"?
I said the industry is full of "buzzwords". You should avoid the trap of buying based on "buzzwords" was my message.
One could argue that at one time the feature "auto-focus" was a "buzzword".
And many seasoned photographers avoided auto-focus systems preferring to rely on the tried and true manual technique. Even today, with auto-focus systems reaching new levels of sophistication, how many buyers are still looking for manual override?
I would say to the extent one might even consider "manual focusing" a new "buzzword" even on those cameras where the LCD screen/viewfinder resolution is not sufficient to actually make use of the technique.
"Focus peaking" is a new "buzzword", is it not? Its actual utility is decided by each individual camera and each individual buyer.
Sell the sizzle.
Weather sealing is fine, if the user requires weather sealing.
To buy weather sealing "just because" seems, to me, to be a complete waste of resources if it is not a required or a highly desirable feature.
Mass market manufacturers deal with relatively small profit margins and it is simply a fact, if not a matter of complete common sense, that they must pay for their product and, therefore, they design with production cost mind.
If one manufacturer provides "#1 feature" that others do not, it is a certainty that the "#1 feature" cost them money to develop and produce and that money had to come from somewhere.
That means, if their product is selling to and at retail at a competitive price, something else had to be short changed in order to provide the funds for that "#1 feature".
The logical conclusion I will leave to each of you.
I take it from both of theses responses to my post regarding "buzzwords" that neither person bothered to click on the link I provided which would have led them to "how to make a decision". You should both go back and do that now.
As I said, I'm not of the opinion that suggesting specific products is all that helpful to the op. I
am of the opinion that assisting the op by giving them a manner in which they can set their priorities and list those "#1 features" they do and do not require is a more beneficial way to assist someone struggling with a torrent of "buzzwords" and static on paper specs all about basically similar, if not all but identical, products.
The link I provided will explain how this can be done.
In the meantime, avoid "buzzwords".
They are only words meant to create a momentary buzz in the buyer's head.
A few models down the line, they might not exist at all or, like "auto-focus" they will be viewed by many as inferior to old fashioned manual focus.
That's all I was saying with my warning to avoid "buzzwords".
