[RonHendriks1966]

No, smartphones are cheap, because almost everyone gets them on monthly plans, for $20 onwards.
Can you get a real camera like that, on 24 months plan for, say, $40 a month?

Maybe that is a plan. A camera (+lens set) with wifi-connection and a descent cloudspace on a monthlyfee base, combined with some software from Adobe.

[goubejp]

I'm back from a trip in Andalusia - south spain. Very nice place indeed. But the new fact is that many people use their tablet to take pictures. I have encountered serious amateurs using SLR (some of them using Pentax), a lot using compact camera for sure, and more using ipad (or samsung equivalent) than smartphones. I have the impression that tablet, not smartphone, is eating compact camera market.

[audiobomber]

I don't see any really compelling offering from Pentax outside their DSLR's.

I don't agree with that. The Q and accessories, MX-1 and WG-3 are solid products. The X-5 lacks imagination, but the price is pretty amazing. Remember also, there is no longer a Pentax company, it is Pentax Ricoh, and one of their products is the GR, with more to come.

Pentax Ricoh is a new entity and is just getting started. Most of the products offered right now are continuations of previous lines, not Pentax Ricoh products. We don't really know where they're going, other than a few hints about DLSR's and the Q.

[mecrox]

I'm back from a trip in Andalusia - south spain. Very nice place indeed. But the new fact is that many people use their tablet to take pictures. I have encountered serious amateurs using SLR (some of them using Pentax), a lot using compact camera for sure, and more using ipad (or samsung equivalent) than smartphones. I have the impression that tablet, not smartphone, is eating compact camera market.

Yes, I noticed that at the London Olympics last year, lots of tablets around and a year later there will be even more. It's a win-win. The tablet-user can make a record of their whole visit, served up as a slide-show or wifi'd out any time they want. Plus they get to keep in touch with friends and family via the tablet's other software. A relative did exactly this during a trip of several months last year (his parents bought him the tablet with keeping in touch in mind and it worked brilliantly). Phones are too small to make viewing pics much fun but tablets are ideal for it.

[mecrox]

Maybe that is a plan. A camera (+lens set) with wifi-connection and a descent cloudspace on a monthlyfee base, combined with some software from Adobe.

Plus a lens rental system, perhaps via a club membership, so folks can get to try those dream machines. And a really good IOS/Android app so that cam and phone/tablet can be synch'd, etc. They could also offer members a deal for ordering prints at reduced prices from a couple of suppliers.

[Aristophanes]

I'm back from a trip in Andalusia - south spain. Very nice place indeed. But the new fact is that many people use their tablet to take pictures. I have encountered serious amateurs using SLR (some of them using Pentax), a lot using compact camera for sure, and more using ipad (or samsung equivalent) than smartphones. I have the impression that tablet, not smartphone, is eating compact camera market.

I am watching the NHL (ice hockey) playoffs a lot these days which are amongst the most watched programs on the air in Canada for a solid 2 months. Premium advertising opportunities.

Other than automobile and insurance ads, it's cameras, mostly Nikon, then some Canon.

The Nikon ads are persistent in showing the D3200 communicating wirelessly with a tablet. Oh, and by the way, it also takes phenomenal photos.

The camera makers "get it". Nikon has figured out they have to play nice with other electronics. Pentax hasn't even figured out tethering.

Canon ads show people doing adventurous things, like hanging from a crane or rock climbing. It's always thrilling and dangerous. Buy a camera, buy adventure (channelling my inner Mad Men).

[monochrome]

Nikon has figured out they have to play nice with other electronics.

Pentax worked with Eye-Fi to build into the Q10 Menu and Firmware expedited linking with devices through the Eye-Fi card and their cloud site (once the links are set up). Ricoh GR does this natively, without the Eye-Fi card or cloud link.

I only know that because I was fortunate to have had a Conversation with Jim Malcolm (I arranged the Q Conference Call earlier this month) and I read the GR advance specifications in detail on the GR microsite. PRI and PRAC (and PRI-Canada) certainly didn't tell us, did they?

OTOH, if you are watching the most-watched television of the year in Canada, you can bet Canon, Nikon, car companies and insurance companies are paying the highest ad fees of the year in Canada.

[Sol Invictus]

I am watching the NHL (ice hockey) playoffs a lot these days which are amongst the most watched programs on the air in Canada for a solid 2 months. Premium advertising opportunities.

Other than automobile and insurance ads, it's cameras, mostly Nikon, then some Canon.

The Nikon ads are persistent in showing the D3200 communicating wirelessly with a tablet. Oh, and by the way, it also takes phenomenal photos.

The camera makers "get it". Nikon has figured out they have to play nice with other electronics. Pentax hasn't even figured out tethering.

Canon ads show people doing adventurous things, like hanging from a crane or rock climbing. It's always thrilling and dangerous. Buy a camera, buy adventure (channelling my inner Mad Men).

Pentax Canada campaign 2013:

"6 fps, just enough to capture all the goals scored on the Leafs!"

Too soon?

[mamethot]

Pentax Canada campaign 2013:

"6 fps, just enough to capture all the goals scored on the Leafs!"

Too soon?

Barely enough for 3rd period goals...

[audiobomber]

Pentax hasn't even figured out tethering.

My K20D supports tethering. Clearly the issue is not that Pentax hasn't figured it out, it's that they decided not to offer it. I don't know why.

The Leafs always choke in the clutch, it's been their MO for 45 years.

[Aristophanes]

Pentax Canada campaign 2013:

"6 fps, just enough to capture all the goals scored on the Leafs!"

Too soon?

It's a bad year if the Habs don't win the cup.

[Mistral75]

As far as I've heard, cameras are still a growth market.

As far as I have read, not for Japanese companies. Take a look at CIPA figures for the 1st quarter of 2013 compared to the 1st quarter of 2012 (these are the latest figures currently available) for total shipments worldwide:

• Digital Still Cameras Total: minus 43.4% in volume (number of units sold) and minus 33.4% in value (turnover generated)
• Cameras with Built-in Lens: minus 47.6% in volume and minus 44.8% in value
• Single Lens Reflex Cameras: minus 33.2% in volume and minus 19.1% in value
• Non-Reflex Cameras with Interchangeable Lens: minus 18.5% in volume and minus 17.9% in value
• Interchangeable Lenses: minus 12.1% in volume but plus 9.1% in value (the "Lenses for 35mm format Cameras" segment is growing, the "Lenses for smaller than 35mm format Cameras" is shrinking)

Not particularly the most cheerful of reports.

Sources: CIPA reports; http://www.cipa.jp/english/data/pdf/d-201303_e.pdf for cameras and http://www.cipa.jp/english/data/pdf/s-201303_e.pdf for lenses.

[Aristophanes]

As far as I have read, not for Japanese companies. Take a look at CIPA figures for the 1st quarter of 2013 compared to the 1st quarter of 2012 (these are the latest figures currently available) for total shipments worldwide:

• Digital Still Cameras Total: minus 43.4% in volume (number of units sold) and minus 33.4% in value (turnover generated)
• Cameras with Built-in Lens: minus 47.6% in volume and minus 44.8% in value
• Single Lens Reflex Cameras: minus 33.2% in volume and minus 19.1% in value
• Non-Reflex Cameras with Interchangeable Lens: minus 18.5% in volume and minus 17.9% in value
• Interchangeable Lenses: minus 12.1% in volume but plus 9.1% in value (the "Lenses for 35mm format Cameras" segment is growing, the "Lenses for smaller than 35mm format Cameras" is shrinking)

Not particularly the most cheerful of reports.

Sources: CIPA reports; http://www.cipa.jp/english/data/pdf/d-201303_e.pdf for cameras and http://www.cipa.jp/english/data/pdf/s-201303_e.pdf for lenses.

Quite right.

Single-purpose dedicated cameras are losing ground to smartphone cameras.

Mirrorless offers low value for IQ and AF, and many have starting price points that are ridiculous (the original Q, Nikon).

DSLR market is becoming saturated. Buy-ups to FF are buoying very modest profitability.

Single purpose cameras will survive but to do so must offer features that a smartphone cannot, such as WR, ruggedness, better optics, but must also borrow some features like a smartphone, such as built-in Wi-Fi. Generally many manufacturers are heading this way or are already there, but they are still pricing items like GPS and Wi-Fi as premiums rather than basics. That's not helping sales. All this category needs is to be positioned both technically and in the market as better than a smartphone camera by a leap with similar conveniences. The built-in capacity to communicate with iOS and Android devices would be a huge boon. Tablets are excellent quick editors.

Mirrorless is lost in the middle ground of not having pro-level IQ and AF, but having near sameness in cost. The premium for compact size is not as huge a draw as many expected. To make a break from the "good enough" smartphone, sensors have to be large enough (sorry Q) and the optics have to be great. A great # of buyers are not sold on EVF over $500.

DSLR's have life because the system is so established and versatile, possesses higher-end pedigree elements like an optical VF, very fast AF, and can accommodate larger sensors (FF and Leica S2, for example). They are "prosumer" all the way and the marketing as such has been extremely successful to the point of commoditization.

Not only are smartphones decimating dedicated camera sales, they are also destroying the dedicated videocam market. Originally it was thought that compacts and DSLR's with video would do that, but if all you need is a small sensor with all that DOF, a cameraphone is already there.

[Mistral75]

The global market of DSLRs one the one hand, compact system cameras on the other hand, as seen by GfK and IDC, presented by Carl Zeiss in a press conference held today in Japan about the Touit lenses and reported by Digital Camera Watch http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20130515_599536.html



Surprisingly, figures about the past are slightly different between the two market research companies.

[cfraz]

Surprisingly, figures about the past are slightly different between the two market research companies.

I doubt manufacturers release accurate sales figures. I suspect these data are collected from secondary measures so the differences don't surprise me. Note also that almost half the "data" points are in the future (2013 - 2016) and must therefore be estimated projections.