Is There A Market For Digital Compact Cameras Like The Powershot Series Still?

Wilt wrote in post #19201048
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Similarly the younger US generations' refusal to bother to learn to drive manual transmissions has resulted in the disappearance of cars outfitted with manual transmissions in the US (the auto manufacturers no longer want the added expense of certification of cars with manual transmissions to sell in the US market)...The small market of enthusiasts who want to drive a car with a manual tranmissions is not worth the expense of certification!
Little do they understand that when it comes to car rental when travelling outside US, you pay a premium IF YOU CAN FIND a rental with automatic transmission!

Yea.. I don't think it's as simplistic as that. Certainly customer preference plays a role but so does performance. Auto transmissions just perform better and handle the new high torque engines than manual transmissions. Heck, even Ferrari has gone all auto.

gjl711 wrote in post #19201061
Yea.. I don't think it's as simplistic as that. Certainly customer preference plays a role but so does performance. Auto transmissions just perform better and handle the new high torque engines than manual transmissions. Heck, even Ferrari has gone all auto.

But one has to also recognize that any low volume manufacturer cannot afford the costs associated with having both auto and manual transmission cars sold in the US when the unit volume does not warrant the expense. Even 'enthusiast' more affordable brands like BMW only offer manual tramissions in the decidedly 'enthusiast' performance model engine+transmission combinations.
For an 'ultimate performance' automobile, it makes sense to provide only the fastest shift times transmission, the automatic.

But we digress from the OP QUESTION.

For the general consumers, I think point and shoot cameras are pretty much dead. People I know (family, friends, coworkers) prefer their phone rather than bringing a camera even during occasions/events.

Since the pandemic started to abate (or so we thought) I've been looking for a summertime kit (I call it a beer-garden kit) for situations where a full, DSLR expedition kit isn't appropriate.

Over the past few months I've gone through a Fuji X20, Canon M50, Canon 90D and Canon G5X. I bought all the Canon cameras from vloggers (roughly zero shutter clicks at they-needed-the-money prices). I sold the Fuji (too old) and the M50 (didn't speak to me). The 90D is amazing but not what we're talking about here. I just bought the G5X and it's still in the evaluation phase but it looks promising.

I've made some good pictures with my phone, but it just doesn't work with what my muscle memory expects of a camera. I should be able to work a camera with both hands and never look away from the scene.

I'm not sure I've found exactly what I'm looking for, but I have found a niche need for a compact camera. (At this point, the 90D with an 18-135 seems to be working out very well and it's small enough that it doesn't alarm bystanders.)

I think there's a market for any camera as I've had several photographers ask to buy my Fujifilm XP60 camera which weather sealed. But I'm still willing to hold onto it just a bit longer as I have some under water shots to attend to very soon.

I think there is a market for decent older cameras. I bought a CAnon SX530HS from Canon refurb just to have something small to take on walks. Will never replace my DSLRs, but really decent for lightweight, decent photos.

greenjeans wrote in post #19270273
I think there is a market for decent older cameras. I bought a CAnon SX530HS from Canon refurb just to have something small to take on walks. Will never replace my DSLRs, but really decent for lightweight, decent photos.

I get that completely. My first digital camera was a 3MP Canon A75. I carried that, my notebook and a few other items in a small camera bag. Easy to carry, easy to use.

Now, I have a backpack with two Canon DSLRs, 3 Canon L lenses, some other stuff and the whole thing weighs 25 lbs. I wish for the old days sometimes...

Steve

I really hope that the compact cameras stay around. I have always the Panasonic LF1 with me, and often the Canon SX50. As long as a Compact has a viewfinder and enough reach it is very handy, because I don't have to change lenses and have always the "right lens" with me. Maybe in the near future I look into upgrading the Canon. I have a DSLR, the EOS 450d, but don't use it often nowadays.

Still using my Cano9n SX 60HS. Thinking Nikon P950 but... My car is one of 3(?) in Indiana that takes a $330 battery. Maybe towards spring.

I've been shooting with SLRs going on 50 years now. When I go out to "make" a picture, that's my tool of choice. I've gotten used to the control they give me.

But those big cameras turn things into a bit of a production. I thought about getting something small I could put in a pocket and after a few tries I settled on a Canon G5X. That's a very nice camera and it checks a lot of boxes, but I almost never use it. It gives me a lot of control, but that comes with a complexity that I'll never master using it sporadically. Every time I pick it up now, I'm lost, and that costs me shots. So it doesn't get used.

I do carry a camera in my pocket everywhere I go, but it's on my cell phone. That camera doesn't get a lot of use either, but it's always handy, the batteries are always fresh and it's easy enough to use that I don't forget how between uses.

Cameras are only something I think about when I'm sitting at my desk. When I'm out shooting, the camera becomes my hammer and my concentration turns to the nail.

That G5X is a very nice camera, but it will never become a daily driver. My DSLR and phone are both that, so the G5X sits in the glove box, most likely with dead batteries.

drsilver wrote in post #19486874
I've been shooting with SLRs going on 50 years now. When I go out to "make" a picture, that's my tool of choice. I've gotten used to the control they give me.

But those big cameras turn things into a bit of a production. I thought about getting something small I could put in a pocket and after a few tries I settled on a Canon G5X. That's a very nice camera and it checks a lot of boxes, but I almost never use it. It gives me a lot of control, but that comes with a complexity that I'll never master using it sporadically. Every time I pick it up now, I'm lost, and that costs me shots. So it doesn't get used.

I do carry a camera in my pocket everywhere I go, but it's on my cell phone. That camera doesn't get a lot of use either, but it's always handy, the batteries are always fresh and it's easy enough to use that I don't forget how between uses.

Cameras are only something I think about when I'm sitting at my desk. When I'm out shooting, the camera becomes my hammer and my concentration turns to the nail.

That G5X is a very nice camera, but it will never become a daily driver. My DSLR and phone are both that, so the G5X sits in the glove box, most likely with dead batteries.

I had a Panasonic FZ*** bridge camera. I finally gave it away because I never could get it to focus where I wanted it to. Setting anything was a nightmare of menus and sub-menus. When I worked a delivery route I kept a Nikon D90 and a couple lenses in the truck. Much better IQ and far simpler to use. Now the Canon SX60HS is in the car always. Lithium batteries hold their charge through zero degree weather.

There is still a market but for the reasons given it is much smaller than it used to be and not viable for all brands to offer models.

Another thread asking if P&S cameras were dead prompted me to have a look at what Canon had currently in the way of compacts, as mine is a good few years old, in what I consider to be a reasonable price range of £250 - £350 and there is basically nothing. Ignoring the ZoeMini they really only have the SX70 and G7X which are not compacts and are too expensive.

It's only really Panasonic that offer a good choice and Olympus with one that fit the bill. I've used Panasonic in the past for work and hope that they still continue to offer compacts as they pretty much have the market to themselves which hopefully means they continue to think it worthwhile.

I have an SX210, which as said, is years old, but still works well, and for me is what a compact should be. So what I've done is bought a second-hand one in mint condition for £43! Between them they should keep me going for a few years.

I have a G16 as well (big compact!) and G1X Mark II (too big and heavy for a compact but a lovely camera) but they rarely get used as like others I tend to use my DSLRs or compact.

I have a Canon 90D DSLR, a Canon G7X Mk II, and an iPhone 14 Pro Max. The G7X blows the 14PM away (I always shoot RAW). It performs so well that for the first time I left the DSLR at home when on a major vacation and used the G7X - zero regrets. The iPhone takes outstanding 4K video, but I only use the camera when nothing else is at hand.

A couple of years ago, I posted comparative images of a resolution target, with photos taken by dSLR and by a smartphone, to see just how good a smarphone image could be.
TeamSpeed took the images and did a slight bit of added postprocessing to the images, to display an 'artifact' that smartphones can create in the image, in order to improve the APPARENT quality of its shot. I link to the post which revealed this...

https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=19257083

...to me, a major reason why smartphones cannot currently completely replace conventional cameras.

chucklemuck6940 wrote in post #19486653
Still using my Cano9n SX 60HS. Thinking Nikon P950 but... My car is one of 3(?) in Indiana that takes a $330 battery. Maybe towards spring.

My car takes a $25000 battery…