Will point & shoots be a dead product soon?

I'm sure it's been stated here - that p&s sales are dropping because everyone has a camera on their cell phone. Some are approaching 5mp, although that exceeds the quality of the pinholes the cameras have.

My bro' bought a Leica M8 to save the space/weight of a DSLR, and ending up NOT using it with his 4-year old because even an M8 needed a flash and manual focusing and stuff to do. He ending up getting a Pentax Optio for 95% of his photos, and it took great pictures.

I'm just wondering if the camera market will devolve into only high-end DSLRs and cameraphones...is there a market for sophisticated in-betweens like the new Fuji x100?

I doubt that P&S cameras will disappear completely but their sales may drop some and some of the models may disappear but I think they will be around for a while. Cell phone cameras are improving and will work just fine for a lot of the Face Book crowd but there are still a lot of folks that will want better quality than the cell phone offers but will never buy a DSLR so I think the P&S will survive.

Crazy to even think that. I think the market will become stagnant though. Everyone has a point and shoot and unless you lose yours or a tech-freak, once you buy a point and shoot, that's pretty much all you need. Most people keep it until their breaks or use a cell phone. There's a reason why Canon seems to crank out 5-7 models every 3 months.

Not soon... sure in a few hundred years people might have an all in one phone/camera/computer/​car/jetpack/toaster that fits in your pocket, but i would expect the p&s to persist for quite a while yet.

BestVisuals wrote in post #11888619
... Some are approaching 5mp,...

5mp.. How primitive. My Droid has 8. I'm actually surprised at how well it does especially out doors in full sun.

Nut I don't see the P/S going away for the exact same reason that the SLR won't go away and it's all in the sensor size. With today's technology the larger the sensor the better the performance. Phone cameras are handy but get them outside their narrow shooting range and their quality really drops.

No because they are cheaper to produce. There is a huge market for it. It is easy to use and it can produce good results.

Green_Tea wrote in post #11889485
Not soon... sure in a few hundred years people might have an all in one phone/camera/computer ..... that fits in your pocket, but i would expect the p&s to persist for quite a while yet.

Don't have to wait a few hundred years. The Moto Atrix is a phone, camera, computer, and a bunch more all in one package.
http://www.motorola.co​m …es-Page/Atrix-Accessories

No deader than film.

Camera phones have the smallest sensors, typically 1/6". The smaller the sensor the poorer the cameras low light ability. However, with a tiny sensor you can also have a tiny lens.

Frankly, the low noise ability of a G series already isn't that great and their sensors are HUGE compared to what you find in a phone. We're going to need a brand new technology to end up with a phone with a camera good enough to threaten the p&s market. Not saying it won't happen, just (at the current rate of change) it's a long ways off.

http://upload.wikimedi​a.org …amera_sensor_ar​ea.svg.png

I'm sure there will be a bunch of people that feel that the camera on their phone is terrific. Image quality is meaningless to them as they're only looking to capture the moment. I can remember my parents being so happy with the images from their cheap Kodak Instamatics and feeling they were every bit as good as my OM-1. For them good meant small and easy to use ... just load a film cartridge, slap on a Magicube, point and shoot.

Most images from P&S and cameraphones end up on social networking sites, not in print. They're really good enough for that purpose. Heck mine is terrific for that purpose.

They're also getting better and better. Heck, my new S95 is amazing. Generally most camera phones are still crap. Especially in low light.

5mp was surpassed a long time ago...I had one of those 4 years ago. My current one has 8.1...and it's not the best on the market.

I doubt PnS will disappear...the quality out of my phone is not that great compared to a PnS...but pretty damn good for a phone

I hope not. I use my cell phone to call people, not to take pictures. The camera on the phone sucks anyway and I refuse to buy a "smart" phone.

CalPiker wrote in post #11890181
I hope not. I use my cell phone to call people, not to take pictures. The camera on the phone sucks anyway and I refuse to buy a "smart" phone.

Well, I don't think you're "most" people.

Imagine if you could have a P&S with a 3G data connection ( as opposed to a 3G device with a camera attached.) That would open up a huge market if you could upload your P&S pics straight to your social network of choice

The way P&S are going reminds me of MTV. That means Music Television - for the younger ones

In the 80s and early 90s MTV was a must have. They had great shows, great music and if you wanted to see music videos, there was MTV.

No you have youtube plus tons of similar websites. And MTV is broadcasting reality show crap. You don't need that anymore - there are some better ways to hearing music (nevertheless it makes no sense because most of the music today is also crap - sorry, personal opinion).

So in Germany MTV is leaving the non-pay-tv. And nobody cares. Maybe in 10 years ist the same with P&S. Even if i always tend to say: one job/one tool - the smartphones can do it in almost the same quality.

Cheers
flop