Posted by Jim DeWitt on March 10, 2014 at 11:55 AM
Or it's because everyone in North America now owns a digital SLR. During fall Sandhill Crane migration here, it wasn't unusual to see 25-30 photographers lined up along the fence, each with a nice DSLR and big glass.
Jim that of course is a big part of it, how many cameras and lenses does one need?..... The other interesting aspects are the number of cameras sold in Japan compared to the rest of the world. They seem to have no problem buying the stuff over there. And then the camera phone, or phone camera, depending upon how you see those devices, has no doubt taken on a large portion of the population who would have at least an old Instamatic size camera on hand.
Just a changing world faster by the minute with technology leading the way .......
Living in a tourist area, I see a pretty wide spectrum of image making devices, but by and large the phones and very compact cameras are most prevalent. I do see DSLR's, and once in a while a medium or large format camera.
I think that the economy certainly comes into play--folks don't have as much discretionary cash to lay out for higher-end gear, especially when all they want to do is document their lives and share the pics with ease. Additionally, I think the pace of upgrades is slowing because the technology has reached a (perhaps) temporary plateau. The cameras and glass are so good these days!
Additionally, I think the pace of upgrades is slowing because the technology has reached a (perhaps) temporary plateau.
There will be some point of threshold no doubt and it maybe flattening a bit now. With a very long period of computer assisted lens development for so many years to date I think costs maybe the holding point in the end. All the R&D in the world may not make things any cheaper or more cost effective at this rate anyway.
Discussion
4 repliesCamera Gear Sales Decline
Just a changing world faster by the minute with technology leading the way .......
I think that the economy certainly comes into play--folks don't have as much discretionary cash to lay out for higher-end gear, especially when all they want to do is document their lives and share the pics with ease. Additionally, I think the pace of upgrades is slowing because the technology has reached a (perhaps) temporary plateau. The cameras and glass are so good these days!
--p
There will be some point of threshold no doubt and it maybe flattening a bit now. With a very long period of computer assisted lens development for so many years to date I think costs maybe the holding point in the end. All the R&D in the world may not make things any cheaper or more cost effective at this rate anyway.