What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2016?

[dolina]

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we've heard that line before during the hype of mirrorless, that the DSLR is a dying machine. But look at what Nikon has done lately with it's d500 and now the d850. and also with CAnon's 6dM2. It has reignited the passion of digi-SLR users and some mirrorless users have jumped ship.

now, nikon is going into the mirrorless market. let's just hope that they will fix the problems of mirrorless such as the slow AF, the very very low battery life just to name a few.


for me personally, i don't really care what tool people use for their passion in photography, as long as they're enjoying, then fine by me.

What will be most affected are the entry level DSLRs like the 1300D, 200D & 800D may be consolidated into just 1 model while the others will be discontinued without a replacement. Like it was in 2003-2004 where the entry level DSLR was just the 300D.

The point & shoot, DSLR and mirrorless models that will be available moving forward would be largely higher end to significantly differentiate itself from smartphones.

Canon is doing this rather slowly already. These are the point & shoot camera series and the year where in the last updated product was released. As of today they do not have a current model for sale.

A Series in 2012
D Series in 2014
S Series in 2014

These are the point & shoot camera series that continued and went higher end to stay relevant in the era of smartphones.

G Series was repositioned with an increase in image sensor size to APS-C within this week.
SX Series superzoom gained WiFi and location information via smartphone last April 2017

The ELPH series has not updated since January 2016 and this product line renews on a 11-12 month cycle since 2012. In may not be updated anymore and be allowed to discontinued once stock has run out.

You actually made my point for me. Your examples are 1 high end APS-C/DX body, 1 prosumer full frame and 1 consumer full frame.

Nikon experienced a severe financial difficulties earlier this year. If they do not correct this they may become bankrupt or be bought by a competitor.

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It’s in the artist’s EYE, patience and skill that makes an image and not his tools. Even Ansel Adams said ”The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.”

If you have the money and budget is not an option, then go! Buy that most expensive camera, what’s more important, is to find the one that best suits your specific needs.

DSLR, iPhone/mobile or mirrorless camera doesn’t matter what it is that you use. What matters is, that you know what you’re doing with your kit and the camera that you use affords you all the control that you need.

Nice sentiment but this thread isn't about artistry or skill but more on trade and commerce of types of camera made available and number of cameras sold.

99% of the time I prefer shooting with a smartphone as this is the camera that is with me always. I only bring a mirrorless, DSLR or point and shoot when there is a planned occasion.

[dolina]

no offense to any canon user here, but canon has been like a snail with their products.

the most innovative now is Sony. Their A99ii is such a screamer, too bad Sony's lens line up is still very limited.

Fuji is also pushing the boundaries .......


but having said all that ... Cameras will continue to be relevant be it Dslr or mirrorless or compact or micro 4/3. it's just that the sales has now stabilized to a lower point.

what's fun now is the war of the lenses

Sony can do that because they supply the top 50% of all smartphone image sensors. The money they make from selling half of the 1.5 billion image sensors found in smartphones in 2016 allows them to finance R&D for better image sensors for any camera like Nikon's D850.

The Alpha mount is a deadend. The FE mount is the future for Sony.

Fujifilm's strong points is its camera design that invokes the look of old cameras. But to be honest I rather have a Sony for the technology.

Canon can be conservative with their image sensors because of the lens system they have but that advantage gap may narrow over time with Sony releasing more G Master lenses.

I just hope Canon either matches Sony's R&D spending or decide to use Sony image sensors.

[dolina]

After sales support is very important for working photogs so makes Sony not a viable pro platform. I know Canon and Nikon are rather serious in that regard. Unsure about Fujifilm and other brands.

[brownie]

Edit
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Not very helpful for the thread.

[dolina]

coz i made a blind test here in our local camera-shop, the manager is my patient, so i can abuse them from time to time hahaha. anyhow, i took a photo of the same subject and same settings using the - Sony a7, nikon d750, fuji xt1 and canon 6D. the manager then placed the print outs in front of me, well, he knows which camera was used and wrote it on the back. i facking failed. hahahaha. i never did guessed correctly which camera was used

Time Magazine's photographer used the iPhone to take photos for the magazine.

Time Covers of Hillary Clinton, Selena Gomez Shot on iPhone | Time.com

The link has a BTS.

[dolina]

you also posted this on FredMiranda

There are a lot of business leaders there at FM.

[dolina]

Phones are much more useful than cameras. They can be used for video and voice calls, messaging, email, browsing, music, video. word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, photo editing, photo sharing, dating etc.

In 2016 overall, smartphone sales to end users totaled nearly 1.5 billion units, an increase of 5 percent from 2015.

A lot of end users receive their phones through 1/2/3 year cellphone contracts with their carrier.

For iPhone, carriers have the largest share, at 77% in the twelve months ending September 2017.

Apple Has Sold 1.2 Billion iPhones Over the Past 10 Years.

Of which an estimated total iPhone installed base hit 715 million, including 228 million of second-hand devices, in December 2016, with year-on-year growth of 20%.

So smartphones with camera improvements is "pushed" as a bundled feature to end users rather than "pulled" by end users when we buy a compact, dSLR or mirrorless.

For consumers (aka non-working photogs) with extra money probably buy one IL-camera with one lens and keep it until it becomes unserviceable at which point they make a choice to buy another IL-camera, compact or stick with smartphone.

For us whose passion or profession is photography we find smartphones and even compacts too limiting in our field of interest.

Press news agencies like EPA or Reuters upgrade on a cycle as a competitive advantage mirroring the release of the latest and greatest from Canon & Nikon. I'm sure other photography businesses follow this business practice so long as revenue supports it.

I was able to buy a brand new Android One smartphone for the equivalent of USD50.00 with sales tax. For that amount I'd only be able to buy a memory card.

[P-Chan]

Naa ko na dunog nga ang sales sa mirrorless around the SEA is going down (except sa Philippines, which is still going up)

if pang hobby2x lang stick to mirrorless

if pro or semi-pro.. go for DSLR gud... naa ko kaila nag dala siya mirrorless ni ana ang cliente... "mao nah imu gamit to shoo?, parehas ra man nah ug camera sa ako anak"

[P-Chan]

i heard someone from Nikon Japan nga ingon siya mo release unta sila ug mirrorless pag Sept. pero ila nalng gi hold kay tanaw nila ang trend sa SEA(south east asia) kay going down man ang trend sa mirrorless and ni balik ug saka ang DSLR except for Philippines which is bali...

[melody fair]

So long as you know how to market yourself properly and have a brand name then your photo studio business should do well.

If the business is presented as a "generic" brand then it can only demand generic price. Maraming "generic" na paid photographer because wala silang PR o sablay ang PR nila. This is not of lack of talent.

The topic is about the number of point & shoots, DSLR and mirrorless cameras and lenses sold.

Smartphones caused the death of low end point & shoots forcing brands to target high end with better image quality through larger image sensor and better optics in compacts. Point and shoots with a Four Thirds, APS-C & Full frame sensor.

There isnt enough innovation in the DSLR market to prompt someone who already bought a DSLR after 2007 to upgrade unless their body is that old, that big or that broken.

Smartphones are replaced with a newer model every 12/24/36 months if you're on a postpaid plan so the last point & shoot you may have bought between 2007-2012 might have been your last.

Action cameras, drone cameras and 360 cameras do not compete directly with any of traditional cameras as they created a new specialized product segment. Can you imagine the level of difficulty of doing a portrait prenup with bokeh with a 360 camera?

Young people prefer sticking to their smartphone due to price and convenience. Older people tend to have an ILC because they have the time and money to use them.

I expect the DSLR body lineup to shrink down to the numbers back in 2003-2004 with one entry/consumer DSLR, one prosumer DSLR and one pro DSLR for both APS-C and Full Frame.

I expect point & shoots to shrink to less than a handful large image sensor and superzoom cameras.

Mirrorless will continue to expand.

Where are all the photo studios in cebu gone?