Is the Camera Phone the new P&S?

[Eye-level]

We all carry cell phones most of them with cameras. P&S sales are way off nowadays as most people are using their phones to take snaps. Nothing wrong with that because many of these phones have very good picture making capabilities and they are getting better all of the time. Plus they are just pretty darn convenient compared to lugging around a P&S or a DSLR. My brother in law has been buying all kinds of "lenses and filter attachments" for his iphone. I never knew there were so many things like that for a phone.

Yesterday we have this flickr deal fall into our laps. It looks to be aimed right at the camera phone crowd. They (flickr) have seen how much money Facebook has made and they see this is what the vast majority of folks young and old use for their photography. You can have your camera phone snaps in the cloud so if you ever lose your phone or destroy it (like I have done many times over the years) then all of your snaps are safely backed up. They are after a new demographic the camera cell phone socially networked user of which there are running tons.

I think the P&S is as good as done stick a fork in it.

Is this partially why we are seeing all of these "cheaper" FX cameras - camera companies trying to hold onto "photographers" ?

What do you think?

 

[carguy]

While my Galaxy S3 is my daily carry camera, I don't see the P&S going anywhere soon. Different tools for different users

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Jeff, I think you are very close to right. Why buy a cheap P&S when you are carrying a better camera already. Where the P&S market will survive and flourish is the high end P&S market. People like the ones in this forum that have DSLRs that they love and shoot all teh time but want something smaller to carry on vacations but still want great quality. I just read a thread about this very subject.

I was just looking at the COOLPIX P520 An astounding 42x zoom NIKKOR glass lens with Vibration Reduction technology delivers 1,000mm of super-telephoto reach to an 18.1-megapixel low-light CMOS sensor. Cutting-edge technologies like built-in GPS

This is the type P&S that will survive.

 

[Horoscope Fish]

It's just technological confluence. There were always be "multi tools" that do six or eight or a dozen different things, and do them all well enough, to satisfy the vast majority of users and "stand alone" units with specialized features, or what have you, that appeal to a smaller but more discriminating user-base.

Most everyone likes taking pictures, but not everyone enjoys photography. Those are two very different things and I think the market will always reflect and support these two groups.

 

[WhiteLight]

Whatever happens, i just hope DSLRs in their present form & shape never go out of the scene.
I just love things the way they are

 

[Alan]

I think this news story sums up the fate of low end P&S cameras. Olympus Shifting Focus Away From P&S Cameras, Kills Off Budget LineupOn a side I have a friend that is the Photo Director for a local newspaper. They use the D7000 but he tells me about 1/2 of the photos they shoot for the paper are from their camera phones. He even taught a course last year at the local library on using your cell phone camera.

 

[Phillydog1958]

I almost want to agree with Jeff, but after today, I'm not sure. My company has a new Android/iPhone app that can be used to access and evaluate obesity in canine and feline patients. While presenting the new tool, I asked how many people had smart phones. Of the 5 people whom I presented to, only one had a smartphone and she was a
20-something technician. The veterinarian even had a flip phone. This was a rural clinic. I notice that my clients who live in larger cities, tend to have smarter phones than those residing in smaller towns. But, they continue to make these older phones because there continues to be a market for them. My mother, who is a senior, has an older model phone without a camera. I think there will always be a market for
point-and-shoot cameras, but that market is shrinking, as camera phones become more and more sophisticated. I also have seen a segment of the photography community that is gravitating towards mirrorless cameras. They're actually on Youtube. They discuss mirrorless cameras moving into the DSLR market. I'm not sure if this will happen anytime soon, but we can certainly see that the writing might be on the wall and things do change. Change is inevitable, especially when it comes to technology.

 

[Eye-level]

I have a Samsung short bus phone with no camera...it is the only cell phone I have ever had that I can't seem to break. It would be nice if it had a camera. It is internet capable but very lousy don't know why I even pay for that.

 

[Rick M]

Phones must be Killing Nikon's bottom line! I dumped my smart phone for a flip phone last year. Too much access to work and too short of a battery life. My own little revolt against information technology and a great stress reducer.

 

[Eye-level]

Mine's not even a flip phone it is real old school!

 

[riverside]

I have no need for a smartphone but for those do (or feel they do) the camera technology in them is advancing so rapidly why would they bother with another piece of equipment like a separate point & shoot camera?

Demographics are and will remain a major consideration in product acceptance.

Anyone under the age of 30 who can afford a smartphone (in many cases they can't) has a social life that generally revolves around Faceboook and lesser social media. Uploading separate camera pictures is an unnecessary, inconvenient step when one's world revolves around that screen that does "everything". Look at the mobile ap market and its impact on lap/desktop PCs.

Those in the business community where time is money will out of necessity use the most efficient method for any undertaking and that includes having the latest smartphone which will, of course, have state-of-the-art point and shoot photographic capability. Whether they use it or not.

The reality is convenience, affordability and requirements. Those who require smartphones for whatever purpose don't need point and shoot cameras. Many (the majority?) who purchase entry level DSLRs for point and shoot purposes are fooling themselves. Those who pursue photography as a hobby or profession ignore point and shoot cameras as a matter of course. There will always be a market for inexpensive point and shoot cameras but it is rapidly diminishing.

 

[Eye-level]

Speaking of camera phone snaps...

My wife has been telling me about this very unusual squirrel that lives on the college campus where she works and goes to school at. So I said to her take my camera and shoot some snaps of it. Well she hasn't taken my camera because it is to bulky to haul around. Before I go any further I must say that my wife is almost 40 so she is old enough to be the parent of most of these college kids. They all know her but she doesn't know many of them. Anyways as she was walking to class the other day she saw this unusual squirrel. At the same time a young coed girl was walking towards my wife and the squirrel so my wife tells the girl hey take a picture of this squirrel. The girl, a little perplexed, says OK...lol After she takes the picture she freaks and says what is the matter with that squirrel?!! LOL The squirrel is a grey squirrel that instead of having a light colored underbelly it has black hair! Weird!

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Speaking of camera phone snaps...

My wife has been telling me about this very unusual squirrel that lives on the college campus where she works and goes to school at. ... The squirrel is a grey squirrel that instead of having a light colored underbelly it has black hair!

Yeah, that's a Black-Bellied squirrel in the picture alright... It's rare, but not unheard of, mutation in the much more common Grey squirrel. Pretty cool sighting, there's not many of them around!

 

[Rick M]

Anyone under the age of 30 who can afford a smartphone (in many cases they can't) has a social life that generally revolves around Faceboook and lesser social media. .

Problem is lots of people under the age of 30 think they can afford them! Many are also unemployed, poor, on foodstamps, walking around with an Iphones!

 

[Eye-level]

Problem is lots of people under the age of 30 think they can afford them! Many are also unemployed, poor, on foodstamps, walking around with an Iphones!

My kids thinks I can afford two for them! One has an iphone (no service) and an ipad (wireless here at home free at Taco Mayo haha) other has 400 dollar laptop I worked an extra job to get them that crap for Cmas... WTH is wrong with these young people?