[gofour3]

nor is there any other realistic option to digital for the time being.

One word "film"!

Come to the Pacific Northwest and see the number of people who shoot film. You will be surprised, there a lot of people switching back because they can’t get the "film" look on digital. Especially b&w, which doesn’t cut it on digital.

Phil.

[northcoastgreg]

I think that could be disputed. I dont think there is data enough either way to make that conclusion. All we know is the small bubble of the people we hang out with.

Do you really believe that the majority of photographers are techie/gearheads? Given that the vast majority of people in general are not techie/gearheads, I think it's implausible to assume that a majority of photographers come from the ranks of a small minority. During my travels photographing landscapes, I've run across hundreds of photographers. The vast majority are not gearheads. I've heard photographers who run workshops say that they spend more time teaching people how to use their cameras than on photographic principles. While there may be no sociological studies which would help us determine the exact percentages, I think it's safe to say that majority of photographers are not techies.

[wildman]

Aside from the rather dreary discussion of market trends and what some
giant Asian multinationals may or may not do about it I did find a few
gems that interested me (the underlines are my own) -

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

when the non-subjective metrics are satisfied the game is complete then
there is no way to advance to the next level.

Why photograph? What's my motivation? What story do I want to tell? How
do I want to tell it? How can I make things in my own style? How do you
really learn to see? What's my target for all this work? How does one
keep score when everything (everything going forward) is subjective and
not bound by the measurement of interferometers or subject to Moore's
Law?

Instead of workshops on how to do stuff (step by step, recipes) the new
workshops will be on finding that magic spark that motivates you and
makes you want to create for the sake of creation. And instead of
sharing endlessly with strangers perhaps we'll return to a time when
small groups of photographers and galleries and even virtual magazines
helped to curate and self-curate and sort and add value to the practice
of enjoying the actual image instead of sanctifying only the process and
the tools of the process.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many of us turn up our noses at the users of PS and smart phones but in
some ways I think they are more in touch with what photography is about
than many of us so-called "serious" amateurs.

At least when the guy with a smart phone points it at, say, a bird the
beauty to him is in the bird and not in the $3000 worth of gear hanging
off his neck.

So far as photography is concerned I don't worry about market trends but,
rather, misplaced values.

My two bits worth.

[pinholecam]

Well written article by Kirk.

IMO, cameras have reached a point where they are already very good for most of the thing ppl need (including enthusiasts)
So the challenge now is for camera makers to create new 'value/worth' (eg. wifi; gps; touch screen; etc)
No one has the winning formula yet of course

[monochrome]

@wildman: Agreement, but without a certain volume of sales camera makers' futures are threatened.

Kirk Tuck was saying a portion of the "bubble" camera sales was to buyers who don't like to take photograph - they just like to have new things. As do spoiled children, they've moved on from the thrill of getting another new camera toy.

Another portion of camera buyers photographed for validation, uploading their photos for Comments. Their photos can't stand out in the mass of Flickr uploads anymore.

And another portion doesn't want to make the time to go where (they think) the beautiful things to photograph are (once you've shot a remote waterfall with an ND-6 filter, what's next?).

For all these buyers, they motivation to buy another create the subjective wasn't there in the first place.

Your innocent PnS shooters, who were the high-volume base of the pyramid, have replaced thier pocket cameras with smart phones.

That leaves a smaller market.

[wildman]

without a certain volume of sales camera makers' futures are threatened.

I don't worry much about such an outcome but then, perhaps, I have too much confidence in human greed and self-interest.

So far as gear approaching near perfection I have a modest proposal -

- Given that a modern DSLR is, in many ways, just a programmable computer I would like the option to setup a custom user menu system as an option to the rather baroque factory one. More often then not I'm using the camera in a narrow specific way where most of the settings in the default menu are irrelevant while I'm out in the field taking pictures. It would be nice to be able to setup my own menu structure and include in it only what is immediately relevant for my purposes. It would save a lot of time and avoid a lot of misconfiguration.

Also it would be nice to have the option to be able to connect the USB to the computer and have the option to make a configuration dump to a txt file. Where every menu setting is laid out clearly in front of you on the monitor rather like how you can do a EXIF dump of all the file settings. It would help a lot in knowing if the camera is really setup optimally for your particular use. Sort of a quick snapshot of what the camera is doing at a given point in time. Also, along with every setting, would be a reference to which pages covers that particular setting in the user manual. A further enhancement would be the ability to change the setting right on monitor but I suppose that's asking for too much.

Not a big deal but still practical and useful for those of us who use photo gear as a tool rather than as an objet d'art - form follows function or, at least, it should.

[philbaum]

I
- Given that a modern DSLR is, in many ways, just a programmable computer I would like the option to setup a custom user menu system as an option to the rather baroque factory one. More often then not I'm using the camera in a narrow specific way where most of the settings in the default menu are irrelevant while I'm out in the field taking pictures. It would be nice to be able to setup my own menu structure and include in it only what is immediately relevant for my purposes. It would save a lot of time and avoid a lot of misconfiguration.
.

I was reading a review of Sony's Nex 6 recently, and the reviewer had a similar idea to yours and suggested this was the next new feature for cameras. The author said that the APs facility in the Nex 6 and 5R was an attempt to provide a higher degree of owner customization of the camera. But Sony is not really getting with the program by giving user groups any way to program their own APs and so the idea just seems to be languishing into a selling feature and not much else. They have a few APS available but they are limited to producing jpeg images only (on a RAW enabled camera) I'm wondering if Sony is concerned that the APS feature, if made available to consumers to program their own APS, would allow those cameras to undercut the more expensive models.

Anyway, this is a worthy path for Ricoh to put into a Pentax DSLR; A customer could then put a face on their menu system for rank beginners, or an enthusiast might want a menu more complicated but more rich in options. Pentax could get into the publicity spotlight with a customization feature like that - it would also entice me to buy another dslr.

[monochrome]

I was reading a review of Sony's Nex 6 recently, and the reviewer had a similar idea to yours and suggested this was the next new feature for cameras. The author said that the APs facility in the Nex 6 and 5R was an attempt to provide a higher degree of owner customization of the camera. But Sony is not really getting with the program by giving user groups any way to program their own APs and so the idea just seems to be languishing into a selling feature and not much else. They have a few APS available but they are limited to producing jpeg images only (on a RAW enabled camera) I'm wondering if Sony is concerned that the APS feature, if made available to consumers to program their own APS, would allow those cameras to undercut the more expensive models.

Anyway, this is a worthy path for Ricoh to put into a Pentax DSLR; A customer could then put a face on their menu system for rank beginners, or an enthusiast might want a menu more complicated but more rich in options. Pentax could get into the publicity spotlight with a customization feature like that - it would also entice me to buy another dslr.

I asked Jim Malcolm about this very possibility in the Q Users Conference Call last spring. It was the last question. He said Pentax could "look into it," but that was an implied, "NO." He suggested there is perceived business risk releaasing control of the proprietary Menu structure - which is thought of as a competitive feature.