[k5astro]

Once you have a smart phone, having anything other than a high quality DSLR is kind of pointless. Even then, the DSLR is only necessary if you want to do some specialized shooting like sports, for example. Sometimes I feel like I want something in-between but I think its really a desire to have a lighter camera systems than a DSLR.

[monochrome]

Once you have a smart phone, having anything other than a high quality DSLR is kind of pointless. Even then, the DSLR is only necessary if you want to do some specialized shooting like sports, for example. Sometimes I feel like I want something in-between but I think its really a desire to have a lighter camera systems than a DSLR.

I suppose that is correct if all you want to shoot is hyperfocal distance, with digital zoom if you buy the Pro version of an app.

[jogiba]

Once you have a smart phone, having anything other than a high quality DSLR is kind of pointless. Even then, the DSLR is only necessary if you want to do some specialized shooting like sports, for example. Sometimes I feel like I want something in-between but I think its really a desire to have a lighter camera systems than a DSLR.

Really ? So tell me when exactly will there only be DSLR cameras with a flipping mirror box and smartphones ? I say never .

[Rondec]

I see a lot more fragmentation of the market over time. What meets one person's needs will not be adequate for someone else. Biggest issues with small sensored cameras are the huge depth of field and the lag. I also think that we are reaching the maximal point with regard to sensor performance -- there just will not come a point where a tiny sensor will match the performance of even a four thirds sensor.

I do think that eventually most cameras will sport EVFs, rather than OVFs -- not hard to beat a pentamirror APS-C viewfinder. Losing the mirror box saves the camera companies money, so it seems reasonable that they will push that.

Anyway, to each his own. There is even a place out there for NEX cameras, as much as I despise Sony as a company.

[K-9]

I never said anything about smartphones, YOU said there will only be DSLRs and smartphones and nothing else. There is no way people are only going to buy big cameras with a flipping mirror box in the future.

They won't have to because they'll have their phones.

FWIW, my 29 y.o. daughter dumped her film rebel and got a Nikon compact a few years ago, but has exclusively used her iPhone for the last 4 years. Home for the holidays, she tried my wife's Q / 02 - and was delighted!! Just so happens I had a deal kit on the shelf - one more Pentax re-convert (she started on a K1000).

Exactly my point. There are countless others following suit by the minute.

Once you have a smart phone, having anything other than a high quality DSLR is kind of pointless. Even then, the DSLR is only necessary if you want to do some specialized shooting like sports, for example. Sometimes I feel like I want something in-between but I think its really a desire to have a lighter camera systems than a DSLR.

Exactly.

Really ? So tell me when exactly will there only be DSLR cameras with a flipping mirror box and smartphones ? I say never .

Never say never. Look how miniscule the medium format camera market has now become. It's practically non-existent. I'm sure 5 or 10 years ago someone said the same thing you are saying now about medium format cameras. Nothing will ever disappear completely but the compact market could soon end up with miniscule percentages of camera sales, in the very close future.

[jogiba]

MF cameras are not the same as consumer cameras and there is ZERO chance of a world with just smartphones and DSLRs with a flipping mirror box in the next 20 years.

[Kunzite]

What is a "DSLR with a flipping mirror box"? Mines definitely don't suffer from this condition

[k5astro]

MF cameras are not the same as consumer cameras and there is ZERO chance of a world with just smartphones and DSLRs with a flipping mirror box in the next 20 years.

I guess I exaggerated a little. I know people that forgo the DSLR for a MILC for the sake of weight. I'm inclined to do the same. What I meant to say was that having a smartphone that takes good pics and is with you all the time, tends to make owning another camera pointless unless you need something LIKE a (good) DSLR.

I see room for mirrorless cameras but I guess the point I take from the OP is that there will be a shakeout in the market and a lot of offerings will disappear. Not a bad thing IMO.

[monochrome]

I see room for mirrorless cameras but I guess the point I take from the OP is that there will be a shakeout in the market and a lot of offerings will disappear. Not a bad thing IMO.

Palm saw the PalmPilot as the upgrade path for the DayTimer™ (for which it was curiously a wonderful tool). Apple performs that function remarkably poorly. I guess Apple and Samsung and the smaller players now view their NextGeneration smartphones as the upgrade path for all cameras everywhere. That's a lot of replacement sales.

[jogiba]

Palm saw the PalmPilot as the upgrade path for the DayTimer™ (for which it was curiously a wonderful tool). Apple performs that function remarkably poorly. I guess Apple and Samsung and the smaller players now view their NextGeneration smartphones as the upgrade path for all cameras everywhere. That's a lot of replacement sales.

You will not see a 60x 20-1200mm eqiv optical zoom lens on a smartphone or DSLR and people will not stop buying superzoom cameras.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/76-non-pentax-cameras-canon-nikon-etc/231...eqiv-zoom.html

[K-9]

MF cameras are not the same as consumer cameras and there is ZERO chance of a world with just smartphones and DSLRs with a flipping mirror box in the next 20 years.

No one said they were the same. I was pointing out how 10 years ago Medium Format was more prevalent, and now it's probably a miniscule percentage of total camera sales. Compact sales are dropping each year, too. While they may never disappear to nothing at all (someone out there will always continue to make something), how low do sales have to go to convince you the medium is dead? Compact cameras are dying by the minute, whether you believe it or not.

The digital camera market has been rapidly shrinking due to the exploding growth of smartphones with advanced built-in cameras, forcing Japanese makers to abandon their low-end lineups and focus more of their resources on high-end products, including single-lens reflex cameras and mirrorless nonreflex cameras with interchangeable lenses.

According to the Camera and Imaging Products Association, an industry group of major Japanese camera makers, 53 million Japanese digital still cameras were shipped in the January-October period, down 37.8 percent from the same period of 2012.

In terms of value, the shipments amounted to ¥955.6 billion, down 24.6 percent.

The fall was particularly steep in small, inexpensive compact cameras with built-in lenses. They saw a 43.2 percent fall in unit terms during the same period, faced with intensifying competition with smartphones, particularly Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s popular Galaxy series.

full story: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/30/business/mirrorless-cameras-offe.../#.UsmrEyh1P0c

[jogiba]

The bottom line is smartphones are compact mirrorless cameras and some have better quality than many DSLRs in users hands today. The Samsung Note 3 shoots 4K video that is not available on any camera under $4,000. BTW 10 years ago MF cameras were film cameras that cost a fraction of the price of a MF digital back today.and full frame is the MF of today.

[K-9]

All film cameras were a fraction of the price of digital! I paid around $550 for my PZ-1P in the mid to late 90s and it lasted me a solid 10 years. Good luck stretching $500 10 years in today's digital camera world!

Here's another article I happened to click on today, which is a top 10 list of things people will be buying less of in 2014:

Their small size and sleek look made digital “point and shoot” cameras all the rage for years. Now, demand is sunsetting. Roughly 11.5 million are estimated to have sold this year in the U.S., down 44% from 2012, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents consumer technology companies. Sales are expected to drop to just under 8 million next year.

The cameras are suffering from an identity crisis. Consumers who want high-quality photos are opting for the larger, DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras. Others prefer to stick with just one gadget — their smartphone — which takes pictures.

And there’s new competition from cameras intended for the outdoor thrill-seeker, like the GoPro, for people who want photos capturing action (the camera attaches to your body while white water rafting or scuba diving, for instance) rather than stopping to pose for a pic.

10 Things not to buy in 2014

Heck, I still have/use about 6 or 7 of the things on this list.

[monochrome]

They're missing the real inflection point - trend setters are adding back such services as a LandLine- but with a truly Unlisted number, used only for outgoing calls and with CallerID blocked. Even better, using a Pulse-dial phone, making any form of commercial electronic identity snooping challenging. Using a compact camera or Q-sized truly pocketable camera instead of a phonecam. Buying and using a Blu-Ray player for the built-in browser and Netflix/Hulu/other access rather than laboriously connecting your laptop or tethering a desktop to the television (for binge-watching 9 hours of Breaking Bad or Justified). Desktops are making a comeback for intense academics who create long, annotated documents, and want the ergonomic comfort of a full--sized keyboard without the connectivity hassle.

There are no doubt others. These examples come from a discussion in a storefront restaurant in NYC last month with a group of late-20's professionals.

[jogiba]

All film cameras were a fraction of the price of digital! I paid around $550 for my PZ-1P in the mid to late 90s and it lasted me a solid 10 years. Good luck stretching $500 10 years in today's digital camera world!

Here's another article I happened to click on today, which is a top 10 list of things people will be buying less of in 2014:



10 Things not to buy in 2014

Heck, I still have/use about 6 or 7 of the things on this list.

I have a 30" 2560x1600 for my Windows 8.1 PC and a 30" 2560x1600 monitor for my Mac Pro that I use when I am home and not my iPad or smartphone so anyone who says desktops are dead is clueless. How many here are using a smartphone to post instead of a desktop ? I still have my PZ-1P along with my 6x7 Pentax and several more Pentax bodies but have not used them in years but I could get some film out of my freezer and shoot with them but after shooting with a full frame mirrorless I lost all desire to do it.