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Archive 2014 · Dismal Experience

  
 
rattymouse
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Dismal Experience


Today I went to my daughter's Girl Scouts initiation ceremony. There were 26 girls there, all from expat families, (very well off financially). It was the opening ceremony to mark the beginning of the Girl Scout year. A pretty important event in a young girl's life and of course *every* parent there had a camera.

I brought with me my Fujifilm S5 Pro w/ Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 G lens.

EVERY other parent shot this even on either their cell phone (90% or more were iPhones) or iPads.

One "real" camera in the entire crowd. One camera.

I bet a lot of camera making CEO's find it hard to sleep at night these days. The shift away from traditional cameras is enormous.








Sep 19, 2014 at 11:43 PM
MorrieC
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Dismal Experience


I agree with you observation. I was recently at a pro football game and did not take a camera in with me other than a Samsung Note 3 cell phone. I was quite surprised by the quality of photos that I was able to get. I now understand why the point and shoot market is dying.


Sep 19, 2014 at 11:51 PM
philber
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Dismal Experience


I was at the Musée du Louvre last week, the world's most visited museum, to take some pictures. I don't feel that there were any less "large cameras" than before. The ones that are mostly gone are the P&S cameras IMHO.


Sep 20, 2014 at 12:27 AM
rattymouse
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Dismal Experience


philber wrote:
I was at the Musée du Louvre last week, the world's most visited museum, to take some pictures. I don't feel that there were any less "large cameras" than before. The ones that are mostly gone are the P&S cameras IMHO.


Well, all I know is that out of 26 families, perhaps 35-40 adults, who all make over 6 figures in salary, NONE had either an SLR or a mirrorless camera aside from me. None.

That's a drop of epic proportions in my book.




Sep 20, 2014 at 12:34 AM
wfrank
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Dismal Experience


On the upside I am pretty sure that a lot of those 'snaps' already have been shared on facebook and other social media making friends and relatives happy and in a way enabling them to take part without their physical presence.

Images by real cameras seldom get that speed and spread, at least not mine. And though my iphoning friends like my images it is not uncommon that I have to point out what is so special with 'that kind of short DOF' or something else.. :-)



Sep 20, 2014 at 02:02 AM
rattymouse
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Dismal Experience


wfrank wrote:
On the upside I am pretty sure that a lot of those 'snaps' already have been shared on facebook and other social media making friends and relatives happy and in a way enabling them to take part without their physical presence.

Images by real cameras seldom has that speed and spread, at least not mine. And though my iphoning friends like my images it is not uncommon that I have to point out what is so special with 'that kind of short DOF' or something else.. :-)


Very true. Especially with expat families. My images are still on my Fujifilm SLR while I'm sure that the other parents have shared theirs with family back in their home country.




Sep 20, 2014 at 02:05 AM
chez
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Dismal Experience


Too bad for traditional cameras. Today's phone cameras take better images than yesterday's P&S cameras. And since just about everyone has a phone camera, the amount of photos being taken has climbed exponentially. I only see positives in this, not doom and gloom. It's good to boot the big camera manufactures in their butts or we would continue to have little to no innovation out of them.


Sep 20, 2014 at 07:41 AM
kosmoskatten
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Dismal Experience


I don't fully agree that phone cameras "take better pictures" than yesterdays P&S cameras. I agree that the amount of photos taken have climbed exponentially - but I don't see only positives in this - on the contrary the amount of crap photos that people should have erased instead of submitting on forums or keeping on the phone have also risen out of proportion. By crap I am not talking about subjective factors like "uninteresting" or "boring" but blurred, badly exposed or technically really bad photos.

The positive side is that people are carrying (cell phone) cameras and putting them to use.

For web use I think camera phones work quite well, but not in all regards, like action photo, sports photography or anything more gear demanding.

My HTC One - my first smart phone - actually takes good enough pictures under most conditions and have enough on board post processing capabilities that it has replaced my advanced p&s cameras for work documentary photos - and done it well. I shoot interior panoramas and wide angle shots and close ups of details and save them for future reference and not a single client has complained about lack of detail - on the contrary some have been impressed and asked about the phone/camera or thought it was downloaded from another type of media/camera.

I tried the iPhone route but it just doesn't do it for me - despite me being a Mac guy all my life. Never owned a PC, never will.

I will not buy another P&S digital camera. I do love my Ricoh GR but anything above that needs to have interchangeable lenses and large-ish sensor. I think it will be increasingly harder to attract people with P&S cameras. Most people I know use their smart phones much more than their digital cameras - for better and for worse. At least most people I know do have a digital camera too.



Sep 20, 2014 at 08:05 AM
kosmoskatten
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Dismal Experience


Rattymouse:
I think it is a bit sad that there were not more people around with a "real" camera.

I can imagine when/if people want to print and partially enlarge a photo of their kids, taken ten meters or more away and in poor light only to realize that it looks like crap and they can't do anything with the image off screen.

I have been in the photo finishing business and it was not funny back when people wanted an A4/A3 print out of a 1.3MP camera on lowest quality setting (VGA resolution 640x480 roughly 0,3MP) on a 32MB card (MEGAbyte) and could not comprehend why it was not possible to have it done and make it look anything less than a LEGO style block build.
A lot of sour grapes I tell you... "...but it is Digital - isn't it PERFECT?"




Sep 20, 2014 at 08:12 AM
jctriguy
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Dismal Experience


rattymouse wrote:
Today I went to my daughter's Girl Scouts initiation ceremony. There were 26 girls there, all from expat families, (very well off financially). It was the opening ceremony to mark the beginning of the Girl Scout year. A pretty important event in a young girl's life and of course *every* parent there had a camera.

I brought with me my Fujifilm S5 Pro w/ Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 G lens.

EVERY other parent shot this even on either their cell phone (90% or more were iPhones) or iPads.

One "real" camera in the entire crowd. One camera.

I bet a lot
...Show more

Can you explain why that was a dismal experience?

PS...they all used a mirrorless camera ;-)



Sep 20, 2014 at 08:12 AM
mawz
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Dismal Experience


This is not news. 5 years ago they'd have been carrying crappy P&S's.

SLR's and serious compacts have always been a fraction of the market. Even the Rebel with a kit lens set is small when compared with P&S/Cell phone shooters.

And I'm not surprised to see this with an all-expat crowd young enough to be parents of girl scouts. My experience is that the group most likely to have the mirrorless/consumer DSLR are asian tourists. The group least likely in my experience is 30-something western tourists who are also the most likely to have scouting-age girls. If you see a westerner with a consumer interchangeable lens camera they tend to be either college-age or 50+.



Sep 20, 2014 at 08:42 AM
Spyro P.
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Dismal Experience


at least they're all shooting primes


Sep 20, 2014 at 08:51 AM
galenapass
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Dismal Experience


rattymouse wrote:
Well, all I know is that out of 26 families, perhaps 35-40 adults, who all make over 6 figures in salary, NONE had either an SLR or a mirrorless camera aside from me. None.

That's a drop of epic proportions in my book.



I see the same sort of thing at my kids' sporting events. I don't know how photographers who take team shots stay in business. When they get the kids together for a groups shot, ~ 10 parents will stand behind the photographer and snap the team shot with their cell phones. Some use their iPad. Very few people fill out the photo order form anymore.

I also agree with Chez. As one example, I think Canon has had the luxury of charging high prices for photo equipment while at the same time not being very innovative in many ways. The DSLR segment is now contracting. Hopefully this will make Canon wake up. We've already seen them drop prices on a wide variety of lenses. Many seem to think that this is just due to currency levels but I cant cant see how the contracting DSLR market coupled with the large equipment making infrastructure (ie plants) is also not having an effect.



Sep 20, 2014 at 09:22 AM
uhoh7
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Dismal Experience


rattymouse wrote:
Today I went to my daughter's Girl Scouts initiation ceremony. There were 26 girls there, all from expat families, (very well off financially). It was the opening ceremony to mark the beginning of the Girl Scout year. A pretty important event in a young girl's life and of course *every* parent there had a camera.

I brought with me my Fujifilm S5 Pro w/ Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 G lens.

EVERY other parent shot this even on either their cell phone (90% or more were iPhones) or iPads.

One "real" camera in the entire crowd. One camera.

I bet a lot
...Show more

You are projecting alot into a single anecdote.

I would wager many of those parents have "real" cameras---fresh ones-- at home.

Cells are the new "instamatic", which were in wide use when I grew up. You very rarely saw SLRs, except in the hands of pros.

A hassie was like a unicorn in the affluent college town of Davis.

But we did have a nice darkroom in junior high, and learned to use it. But the cameras were owned by the school. When I got a new Ftb at 18, I knew no one who owned an SLR--or least carried one when I could see.

Hope you got a good shot of all the parents framing with their i5s



Edited on Sep 20, 2014 at 10:40 AM · View previous versions



Sep 20, 2014 at 10:30 AM
galenapass
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Dismal Experience


Single anecdote or not, camera manufacturers themselves report that the DSLR market is contracting. These stories are all over the news. Have you not read anything about it?




Sep 20, 2014 at 10:37 AM
cputeq
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Dismal Experience


It's all about convenience and enjoying the moment, rather than the photos afterward.

It's already been studied that when people are photographing an event, they have a more difficult time remembering the details of that event because they're focused on operating their camera.

Since cell phones are about as basic of a P&S as one can get, it's easier to just pop off a few shots for facebook and forget about the rest.


I can certainly see the allure - I've considered getting something like an RX100 and selling off everything else - Frankly I don't print huge masterpieces and just want decent, pocketable quality.

Cell phones aren't there yet, for me, but for many others they are.



Sep 20, 2014 at 10:38 AM
uhoh7
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Dismal Experience


galenapass wrote:
Single anecdote or not, camera manufacturers themselves report that the DSLR market is contracting. These stories are all over the news. Have you not read anything about it?



Of course the DSLR market is contracting. So is the market for 10 pound laptops.

Photography, on the other hand, has never been more popular.



Edited on Sep 20, 2014 at 10:44 AM · View previous versions



Sep 20, 2014 at 10:41 AM
ken.vs.ryu
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Dismal Experience


wfrank wrote:
On the upside I am pretty sure that a lot of those 'snaps' already have been shared on facebook and other social media making friends and relatives happy and in a way enabling them to take part without their physical presence.

Images by real cameras seldom get that speed and spread, at least not mine. And though my iphoning friends like my images it is not uncommon that I have to point out what is so special with 'that kind of short DOF' or something else.. :-)


wifi enabled cameras can easily share pictures as well.



Sep 20, 2014 at 10:42 AM
BenV
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Dismal Experience


Why would you be worrying about getting "great images" instead of sharing the moment with your daughter? I'd of left my SLR at home and brought my Galaxy S5 too.


Sep 20, 2014 at 10:47 AM
galenapass
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Dismal Experience


uhoh7 wrote:
Of course the DSLR market is contracting. So is the market for 10 pound laptops.

Photography, on the other hand, has never been more popular.



If the DSLR market is shrinking, and its so obvious, how does that support your wager that "....many of those parents have "real" cameras---fresh ones-- at home."

It does not, and that was my point.

Ratty's point is that this anecdotal situation is just another symptom of cell phones which are supplanting point and shoot cameras and DSLRs. DSLR to a lesser extent...yet the trend is there.




Sep 20, 2014 at 10:54 AM
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