What's Behind the Camera Market Collapse

Yes sir and he covers it. Everyone is taking images. The elite are making them. He doesn't cover the elite but he makes his point with the professional.
 
I read it. I think he is right in many ways.
 
Indeed, it's all a bit depressing.
 
I agree but only to a point.

In all seriousness, photography has not stopped evolving. Sorry to digress from the narrative, but they said the same thing about the US patent office needing to be closed because all things to ever been invented had been so. Even if it was a parody joke in 1899, it still means that there is the thought that many do not see a future.

In reality I have had discussions with various folks on many different levels and photography is not far from a huge shot int he arm.
Simi or psudo 3D photography-holography is in development.
The future of 3D holograms comes into focus

That is one point.
3D Scanning: Understanding the Differences In LIDAR, Photogrammetry and Infrared Techniques

Though more geared to the engineering world, its the infancy of the industry. it will evolve.

Refractive 3d photography and other points including the use of LiDar incorporated together is the future. its imply is being birthed at this point.
6 dreamy examples of refraction photography | Creative Bloq

BTW, why am I linking these links together? Because though not specifically linked as a whole, they are the aggregate of the future technology.

As for social media, yes there is that. Along with social media making us stupiderer.
When the fad of social media runs its course (and it will) our IQ will start the long process of upward mobility.
 
As @Soocom1 says above I agree with a lot of what he says but take issue with photography not evolving. How we currently take and view photography might go away, but it will be replaced by something even better. Holograms, 3D renderings, AI that can anticipate what we want to see and show it, all of these are as foreign to us now as the digital sensor was to film photographers. For thousands of years humans have been preserving memories in one form or another, and is not likely to change.

One thing he doesn't mention is the cell phone evolution. Most of the people who at one time would have been customers for low to moderately priced DLSRs have cell phones that will do everything they want. Couple that with the price of a modern cell phone and they just don't have money left over to spend on something that's a duplication at best of what they're holding in their hand.
 
I've written this before, but new people probably missed it:

I agree that the camera market has been shrinking, but I don't know how much. A part of the reason I am not in panic mode is because it might not be as bad as we are reading. All the respected reports are based on CIPA numbers. This is what I wrote about that:

CIPA numbers are based on the JAPANESE camera manufacturers. They do not include GoPro, nor BlackMagic, not sure about Leica, but I think Leica is also missing, nor any of the pro video camera makers (what Hollywood really uses), nor Samyang in Korea, nor ANY of the Chinese lens manufacturers, nor any of the Chinese made Action Camera makers (like Yi Technology).

So how much has the camera market shrunk and how much has just shifted? I don't know. I do think that maybe the Japanese camera makers need to be more "competitive" though.
 
That is one point.
3D Scanning: Understanding the Differences In LIDAR, Photogrammetry and Infrared Techniques

Though more geared to the engineering world, its the infancy of the industry. it will evolve.

LIDAR is fantastic from what I've seen. I'm starting to experiment with photogrammetry at my work (as my own wee side project which shows a lot of promise but I'm not sure the endpoint is more than something cool at the moment. At least until we get interactive holographic displays.
 
I thought his writing with regard to how photography has turned from outwardly finding Beauty and Artistry in the world and has shifted to me, me, me and selfie culture in this age of social media was something that I have not heard before. If I look at Instagram today I see much more emphasis on the me culture than I used to. When I first joined Instagram back in 2012 it was to see cool photography. In the intervening years it has become much more a pretend lifestyle showcase, and less of a photographic showcase. Much more selfie stuff, hardly any serious photography on the part of 95% of people.

I can see the change in photography. There is a lot more effort directed to use photography to document one's own carefully-curated (pretend) lifestyle, and much less traditional photographic effort at showing others the world. Since Instagram has now become the de facto way to display one's photographic efforts, I think the platform has discouraged many casual users from wanting to partake in Instagram as a way to Showcase their photography oh, and I think that this has also been why there has been a decline in interest in buying a camera and doing photography. In fact over the last year or so Instagram has become a huge advertising platform and I find it much less satisfying and more filled with artifice and fake BS stories and with way too many advertisements from Healthcare and insurance companies, as well as companies selling their crap.
 
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lots to unpack?? There’s nothing to unpack! Most of us unpacked those same opinions decades ago.
Today’s cell phone is just yesterday’s Instamatic. For a time it looked like the wedding photographer was gonna become extinct since you arrived at a wedding and each table had a disposable 110 that was passed around the table.
He thinks camera tech has plateaued? Shirley he’s jesting, LoL!? About every 50 years there’s a new photo revolution, in fact they’re accelerating.
people that want entry level dslr are NOT buying iPhones for photography. I have an iPhone X and believe me, it’s NOT a camera!
The question lately has never been whether photography is dying but only if dslr is being taken over by ML.
Go to Costco and Best Buy and ask them if IL cameras are dead?
I mean cameras do 4K video now! Just a few years ago you had to be deep in the cine scene to have access to 4K!
Just 15 years ago I was trying to transition from film to digital. so I bought a little piece of crap that had 3.2 mp. Now just 15 years later I can not only shoot 4K video but I can do it from a miniature helicopter if I want but I can augment that story with my 50mp camera!!! Imagine what Mathew Brady could have done with this stuff!?
I don’t think that shooting weddings with 10 year old gear is any indication of the state of the photography industry. How many guys you think are gonna be at the Olympics shooting with a D700 just because it still works? And why not if it’s good enough for a wedding in Indonesia??
That’s as far as I got before I fell asleep!!
He shoulda used statistics, like Bloomberg did with Nikon, they can be tweaked better and the numbers don’t lie!!! LoL
SS
 
I thought his writing with regard to how photography has turned from outwardly finding Beauty and Artistry in the world and has shifted to me, me, me and selfie culture in this age of social media was something that I have not heard before. If I look at Instagram today I see much more emphasis on the me culture than I used to. When I first joined Instagram back in 2012 it was to see cool photography. In the intervening years it has become much more a pretend lifestyle showcase, and less of a photographic showcase. Much more selfie stuff, hardly any serious photography on the part of 95% of people.

I can see the change in photography. There is a lot more effort directed to use photography to document one's own carefully-curated (pretend) lifestyle, and much less traditional photographic effort at showing others the world. Since Instagram has now become the de facto way to display one's photographic efforts, I think the platform has discouraged many casual users from wanting to partake in Instagram as a way to Showcase their photography oh, and I think that this has also been why there has been a decline in interest in buying a camera and doing photography. In fact over the last year or so Instagram has become a huge advertising platform and I find it much less satisfying and more filled with artifice and fake BS stories and with way too many advertisements from Healthcare and insurance companies, as well as companies selling their crap.

Nothing is more annoying than the trend of the photographer including themselves in the shot. A beautiful shot of a lake/mountain/meadow ruined by the lone figure looking contemplatively out at it. So overdone.
 
So after actually reading, in terms of a shrinking market, I only semi-agree with #1 -- that most photographers aren't going out and buying a new camera every release -- however, this has always been a problem. His other point is there is no development left. Sorry, but they must live under rocks Malaysia.

I absolutely 100% hands-down disagree with #2. I'd agree photography and video is more popular than ever. Interest is at an all time high.

Point #3. His analysis concludes most people don't need a real camera for social media, however, I see it over and over again, where people want to "step up" their game and eventually invest in real equipment. Go find any celebrity's Instagram -- take all the Kardashians for example -- those aren't cell phone images they are posting. Most of the cats I follow on Instagram are now posting images created with DSLRs and lighting. While yes, cell phone apps are now trying to mimic the optics of real cameras, and while that may suffice for some, for others it's only leading them toward the camera market.

#4 isn't even worth talking about.


The entire premise is that since camera sales are slumping, so is interesting in photography, but I reject that.

Camera manufacturers are slow to change to what the market wants -- Nikon and Canon are still pumping out the same exact camera year after year with minuscule improvements.

Take the D780, it's going to be the same thing, but with components from other cameras stuffed into it, someone with a D750 isn't necessarily going to instantly upgrade.

Camera are also still crazy F'ing expensive -- so there's a huge barrier for a new consumer to break into the market. AND why would someone with a D750 spend ~$2200 to buy a D780?

Sony is doing a much better job adapting to the new market, building cameras designed for today's shooter, not the shooters of 20 years ago. However, they still continually put out new models of each product line every year or so, then continue to sell the old model, and INCREASE the price of the newer model. See the A6000 product line for an example of this. They still sell new today the: a5100, a6000 [2014], a6400, a6100, and a6600.

But these big dogs are still having trouble not designing to legacy. They still can't create an easy-to-use interface or an ergonomic body, and still can't fight tried old marketing gimmicks. Take the Sony G7x miii and Sony G5x mii for example -- they are essentially the same camera, but the G5x has a pop-up viewfinder and different lens, and the G7x has a microphone port. Just make one camera.

I have a feeling, if a company started selling decent cameras at a greatly reduced price, that are as easy-to-use as a cell phone, that produce easy-to-share images that look good without editing, we'd see a HUGE jump in sales.

I know a lot of people, personally, that buy a Canon Rebel or Nikon D3xxx, have trouble taking pictures with it, then don't get better results than a cell phone, and give it up.
 
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I agree with the brain that social media has increased the interest in photography. People see these amazing photos and when they eventually realize they can’t get that shot with a cell phone many of them start researching “real” cameras. What percentage of them convert to hobbyists or pros? probably similar to the percentage of those who had their interest peaked by print media back in the day and followed up with camera purchases. We all had that one uncle. Hell some of you ARE that one uncle! Or in my case Aunt.

However the huge volume of people using social media makes that percentage equal a much larger number of converts today than in the past.
 

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