What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2018?

What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2018?

https://youtu.be/kCWzb​6B6LW0

The reality is in the last 10 years, photography has not made any real improvements...its all been incremental. 8fps - to 10 fps - to 12... who cares. Pros didn't upgrade necessarily because there was this one killer feature they needed forcing them to upgrade to be competitive. Yes, ISO has improved. We went from 45 focus points to over 600. But the reality is what you could capture on the current Canon 1DX II was pretty much doable with the Canon 1D MKiin. The Canon 7D can capture the same image the Canon 7D mk II can. Only gear heads really care - and they are the vast minority of people out there with Cameras. Canon didn't give us a huge reason to the average shooter to go from the 6D to the 6D mk II. Honestly all DSLRs are capable of capturing 98% of the shots done on a daily basis.

Even the R doesn't change that much. People here like to make a big deal between mirrorless and traditional SLRs. But the reality is the difference between the two platforms is the same as if you have an analog dial on your radio versus a digital one. They both do the same thing, just in a different form factor. Just like FWD versus RWD means little for most driving conditions. It's not the reason most people buy German versus Japanese cars.

Cameras are suffering because all the real innovation is happening in our phones. Why don't our cameras have computational photography? Why can I get great blown out backgrounds on my phone camera - but to get that on a DSLR I need to spend literally thousands on fast glass. There is no reason cameras can't obtain the same affects in camera with slow glass.... camera companies just choose not to.

My walk around camera is a Sony a6300. I have little intention of upgrading it. I can shoot 10fps sports with it. I can do astrophotography with it. I can use it with fast glass at events. I can put a small pancake lens on it for walking around. I can shoot high ISO. I can shoot panorama scenics with it. The new a6400 is better.... but not enough. My a9 can kill it on sports.... but the average image.... no one can tell the difference. I can use the same lenses my 1DX uses. and I am a demanding photographer. I shoot several thousand frames a week. And I don't see anything out there that radically changes the dynamics on what or how I shoot. So I just leave things along. And if I don't see a reason to upgrade my old 7D, surely less demanding photographers don't see a need.

Just like my office Mac is 10 years old, and my iPhone is a 7Plus, Camera companies need to find a compelling reason for all those people who bought cameras 5 to 10 years ago to upgrade. The 10D to the 20D was a big jump. The original 1D to the 1D IIn was a good sized jump. 1D mk IV to 1D DX.. meh. The camera companies have a serious issue. EF to R - not a huge jump in what I can do. They have to do more than that to get those upgrade dollars flowing.