Will point & shoots be a dead product soon?

sth_ wrote in post #11926452
True, but totally missing the point.

Hardly. Most of my friends that have camera phones tire of the crappy photos they produce and want something better, yet don't want to lug a DSLR around. Enter the P&S and we'll see less models in the future, since there are way too damned many at this point in time, but I doubt they'll die, as they fit a price point thats needed.

I'm just waiting for a point & shoot that can make calls. I don't need apps or a music player or any of that social media stuff.

Bosscat wrote in post #11926785
Hardly. Most of my friends that have camera phones tire of the crappy photos they produce and want something better, yet don't want to lug a DSLR around. Enter the P&S and we'll see less models in the future, since there are way too damned many at this point in time, but I doubt they'll die, as they fit a price point thats needed.

Now you got it - to build a P&S with a decent image quality it takes more than a big touchscreen on the back and tiny optics/sensor. So you can buy a Canon S95 (a very nice little camera indeed) and for the same pricepoint a brandnew smartphone with 8 Megapix, a music player and connection to the social networks, games and navigation. Oh - you can also make phone calls with that. And for more than 50% of the people that is enough - the image quality will fit the needs because the images end up in a folder on a HDD, never seen or showed again.
We've been to down under last year, spend some times at the great ocean road. There are a lot of people trying to catch this phantastic landscape with a mobile phone/smartphone. Thats the way life goes. I would dump nearly 100% of those pics, but the people are happy with that.

Cheers
flop

I don't believe P&S cameras are done for at all. Most people just want a small camera that's a lot better quality than their phone which they can take out to parties/clubs.

rkho wrote in post #11927639
Most people just want a small camera that's a lot better quality than their phone

That may apply to most people at a photography forum but I'm quite sure that the majority of people who take photos today are not photography hobbyists or professionals.

It would be interesting to know what percentage of Facebook photos are taken with a mobile phone.

I think the majority of people will be taking photos on whatever form of device the media convinces them to use. If I told my wife that I was going to buy a new lens for my camera costing a few hundred pounds then we'd probably end up in an argument over it. And yet it seems that most people are replacing their phones with ever increasingly more expensive models every 12-24 months just to get the latest gadget. What's really amazing is that many people almost see it as a necessity to have the latest phone with all the latest 'must-have' accessories and applications. 20 years ago it was almost inconceivable that nearly everyone of us would have a mobile phone and view it almost as a necessity. And none of us would have predicted that we'd be spending so much of our hard earned cash to have one either.

I think the same can be said for most of our electrical appliances that fit loosely into the 'entertainment' category. Most of my friends have disposed of perfectly good TV sets to replace them with plasma or LCD models. Why?? Why do we feel the need to keep up with these modern trends? I'll replace my 15 year old monster of a TV when it needs replacing. Charity shops are full of video cassettes that they can't get rid of because we've all given them away to be replaced with DVDs. And many of us will currently be replacing our DVD collections with Blue Ray discs. . . and then the next format.
I really think that these things don't improve the quality of life at all. In fact they probably have the opposite effect as we work longer and longer hours to buy all this stuff and spend less and less time with our families and friends.

I could go on and on but I'm getting further and further away from the OP's original question and just sitting in judgement on the world! lol
But my point is: We are all so easily influenced by the media (and I include myself in that) that I believe that whatever gadget the media convinces us that we should be taking our photos on is the one that the majority of people will be using in the future.

Sorry for the ramble. Best regards,
Jason

JaySteel wrote in post #11928296
...And yet it seems that most people are replacing their phones with ever increasingly more expensive models every 12-24 months just to get the latest gadget. What's really amazing is that many people almost see it as a necessity to have the latest phone with all the latest 'must-have' accessories and applications. 20 years ago it was almost inconceivable that nearly everyone of us would have a mobile phone and view it almost as a necessity....

It works a bit differently in the states. You pay for the service. The phone comes with the service. Sign a 12/24 month contract and every 12/24 months you get a free phone.

And to many a phone is a necessity. More folks are choosing to have a mobile as their only telecommunications device. There is a significant percentage of the population who no longer have a land line and their mobile is the only phone they have.

gjl711 wrote in post #11928430
There is a significant percentage of the population who no longer have a land line and their mobile is the only phone they have.

I'm an oddity here in Finland for still having a land line. Maybe I should unsubscribe since I remember using it only once in many many years.

This just shows how quickly things can change and I have no idea how regular people will be storing their photo-equivalent memories in ten years time.

Bosscat wrote in post #11926785
Hardly. Most of my friends that have camera phones tire of the crappy photos they produce and want something better, yet don't want to lug a DSLR around. Enter the P&S and we'll see less models in the future, since there are way too damned many at this point in time, but I doubt they'll die, as they fit a price point thats needed.

...and so they buy a crappy $60 point'n'shoot with a sensor the same size as their camera phone? I don't think so.

That's why I think that the compact market will probably focus more on premium models. Of course there will be a huge market for compact cameras, just more focused on quality than in the last few years.

ppusa wrote in post #11928513
I'm an oddity here in Finland for still having a land line. Maybe I should unsubscribe since I remember using it only once in many many years.

This just shows how quickly things can change and I have no idea how regular people will be storing their photo-equivalent memories in ten years time.

I am an oddity as well as we still have a land line. None of my 4 kids do though. Age seems to be a factor. If I look at my family members nearly all 40 and older still have a landline in their home. The younger generation have abandon their landlines even those who are now homeowners.

Point and shoots can't die. People will always want to carry around a lighter, smaller camera, when it's need. I've had a DSLR for a year or so now, and I thought about getting one just so I can take to hang outs, etc so I wont be "the guy with the big camera all the time"

Well it appears many of you are smarter then I am.....so you can go fix all the problems of the world

Oh wait....maybe this is why the world is all screwed up???

BestVisuals wrote in post #11888619
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?

The M8 as well as the M9 do require a certain level of skill to operate and is really a great camera and can be faster at focus than any auto focus if you hyper focus/pre focus like many of the great street/documentary photographers do. So the M8 is hardly a point and shoot and I think there is still a waiting list at many places for the M9 a year after it was introduced so there is a market for it.