rattymouse wrote:
Exactly this^. The outright lunacy displayed by Zeiss is totally indicative of how useless the traditional camera industry is and why it is dying every single year. There will be less traditional cameras sold next year than this year, bank on it. The Zeiss ZX1 is not going to change that one bit.
Camera sales fell this year because people were locked into their homes and in many areas could not go physically to work let alone travel or exercise their usual hobbies, and because of the risks assocaited with people working with people, also many subfields of professional photography disappeared (events in particular). Thus it is understandable that since people can't go to events and they can't travel, there would be little motivation to buy a new camera. Many people lost their jobs and along with it their ability to purchase anything. Thus it is a little premature to suggest that this change is permanent. 2021 might not be a normal year but I'd guess things to improve from late 2021 to 2022, provided that people's finances allow it. After most people are vaccinated, probably travel will return and with it, the desire to make images of one's experiences and adventures.
The oblivious among us here at FM said we were merely returning to a more normal level of sales after the digital explosion.
I haven't checked the numbers recently but when I did, the number of cameras sold was indeed below peak film era sales but the value of the camera and value and quantity of lens sales were slightly higher than in the film era. Anyway, if we include compact camera sales, then smartphone camera sales figures should also be included since those fill similar functions.
Yet somehow being able to edit photos on a 6 inch, color inaccurate screen is going to save the traditional camera makers!!
I don't believe anyone has suggested that this camera would do that. Integrating Lightroom into the camera is, however, a significant step and eventually I would expect the editing workflow of cameras to support collaboration and sharing in close to real time. When it's possible to have 1-sec startup time in a camera with LR cloud version functionality then I would imagine many cameras to have that in their feature set. Unfortunately it seems to take quite some time to boot up an Android device. I'm surprised it has to be booted up, why don't they store the OS and memory's last state in flash memory and when the camera is restarted, continue from where it left when the camera was turned off?
The decline of traditional camera sales is in part due to the smartphone being a necessary device in today's society. It is pocketable and serving a multitude of functions apart from being a rudimentary camera. The decline in printed workflow and photography's move online has also meant that very little in terms of quality is required of the camera, as people mostly view photos on a screen much smaller than what used to be called small prints. Only a few per cent of the original image's detail (taken with a dedicated camera) is shown on such screens and since the screen is so small probably 1% is more realistic to be actually seen by the viewer, thus most of the capability of dedicated cameras is wasted. The large quantity of images presented online also means that people don't have as much time to view an individual image, no matter how great.
The decline in tradition camera sales is also because the digital camera is no longer a novelty. In the early 2000's digital cameras were the new devices that everyone talked about, and so many cameras were sold to people who had exhibited no prior interest in photography. After a while many people realized they were (still) not interested in photography and stopped practising it. Thus digital camera sales was never going to stay at 2012 levels, and I think camera manufacturers probably knew that and expected a decline would happen.
The decline in sales isn't really because of integration of communication features or Lightroom, though the camera manufacturers' lack of attention to the shift from printed image to online display may have accelerated it. It's because most people are just not interested in putting the time into photography to learn it properly and continue a lifelong learning experience in it, and thus just about any camera will serve the purpose of what they need. However, there are people who are excited by photography and continue it enthusiastically through their lives, and that's the customer base that camera manufacturers will need to tap into.
rattymouse wrote:
Exactly this^. The outright lunacy displayed by Zeiss is totally indicative of how useless the traditional camera industry is and why it is dying every single year. There will be less traditional cameras sold next year than this year, bank on it. The Zeiss ZX1 is not going to change that one bit.
Camera sales fell this year because people were locked into their homes and in many areas could not go physically to work let alone travel or exercise their usual hobbies, and because of the risks assocaited with people working with people, also many subfields of professional photography disappeared (events in particular). Thus it is understandable that since people can't go to events and they can't travel, there would be little motivation to buy a new camera. Many people lost their jobs and along with it their ability to purchase anything. Thus it is a little premature to suggest that this change is permanent. 2021 might not be a normal year but I'd guess things to improve from late 2021 to 2022, provided that people's finances allow it. After most people are vaccinated, probably travel will return and with it, the desire to make images of one's experiences and adventures.
The oblivious among us here at FM said we were merely returning to a more normal level of sales after the digital explosion.
I haven't checked the numbers recently but when I did, the number of cameras sold was indeed below peak film era sales but the value of the camera and value and quantity of lens sales were slightly higher than in the film era. Anyway, if we include compact camera sales, then smartphone camera sales figures should also be included since those fill similar functions.
Yet somehow being able to edit photos on a 6 inch, color inaccurate screen is going to save the traditional camera makers!!
I don't believe anyone has suggested that this camera would do that. Integrating Lightroom into the camera is, however, a significant step and eventually I would expect the editing workflow of cameras to support collaboration and sharing in close to real time. When it's possible to have 1-sec startup time in a camera with LR cloud version functionality then I would imagine many cameras to have that in their feature set. Unfortunately it seems to take quite some time to boot up an Android device. I'm surprised it has to be booted up, why don't they store the OS and memory's last state in flash memory and when the camera is restarted, continue from where it left when the camera was turned off?
The decline of traditional camera sales is in part due to the smartphone being a necessary device in today's society. It is pocketable and serving a multitude of functions apart from being a rudimentary camera. The decline in printed workflow and photography's move online has also meant that very little in terms of quality is required of the camera, as people mostly view photos on a screen much smaller than what used to be called small prints. Only a few per cent of the original image's detail (taken with a dedicated camera) is shown on such screens and since the screen is so small probably 1% is more realistic to be actually seen by the viewer, thus most of the capability of dedicated cameras is wasted. The large quantity of images presented online also means that people don't have as much time to view an individual image, no matter how great.
The decline in tradition camera sales is also because the digital camera is no longer a novelty. In the early 2000's digital cameras were the fancy new gadgets that everyone wanted to have, and so many cameras were sold to people who had exhibited no prior interest in photography. After a while many people realized they were (still) not interested in photography and stopped practicing it. Thus digital camera sales was never going to stay at 2012 levels, and I think camera manufacturers probably knew that and expected a decline would happen.
The decline in sales isn't really because of integration of communication features or Lightroom, though the camera manufacturers' lack of attention to the shift from printed image to online display may have accelerated it. It's because most people are just not interested in putting the time into photography to learn it properly and continue a lifelong learning experience in it, and thus just about any camera will serve the purpose of what they need. However, there are people who are excited by photography and continue it enthusiastically through their lives, and that's the customer base that camera manufacturers will need to tap into.
Dec 28, 2020 at 07:34 AM
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