[tvdtvdtvd]

Its easy to make predictions on the Internet, eh?

It's especially easy to make predictions of events already predicted by others and already happening
in real time.

I predict desktop computers will be phased out by portables, CFLs will be just a stopover on the way
to LED lighting and the planet will more crowded tomorrow than it is today.

[stevebrot]

I think Pentax users are inordinately obsessed with the future.

They seem to feel there is some investment value in their gear


Steve

[DeadJohn]

I think Pentax users are inordinately obsessed with the future.

... yet we're also locked in the past due to old lenses that still work well.

[Stone G.]

Wristwatches were supposed to be doomed too.

And we got tractors, combine harvesters, cars and bikes - yet some people still ride horses?!?

Not to speak about motor boats - who are all those fools that still allow themselves to de dendent on sails and wind?

I don't know how big is/will be the "enthusiast-factor", but it will continue to be here for a while.

---------- Post added 02-25-2015 at 06:44 PM ----------

There's also this one to ponder over:

Welcome to ILFORD PHOTO

Well, maybe some day smartphones will also allow us to take pictures on analogue film?

[savoche]

Woohoo, I'm a pro!

[Canada_Rockies]

I think there are enough people who just don't like smart phone pictures, such as the crowd in PF, that the still camera will still be around for a very long time. I just love D**msday posts NOT (note - I don't subscribe to the Pentax is d**med crowd.

[jcdoss]

and many of us have a bad case of GAS...(Gear Acquisition Syndrome) Don't know why it ever got called LBA..

Because people like me, who occasionally have gas *and* LBA, wouldn't know how to describe these separate ailments to their medical professionals.

[psychdoc]

Prediction: The Age of the Standalone Still Camera is Coming to and End for all but PROS

I think there are at least a few generations of people still alive that simply like the FEEL of a traditional camera, controls and even the process of editing on a real computer for this to happen that rapidly. But the newer generations that grew up with smartphones from the get-go are a lost cause. Both of my kids have no desire to take photos with anything other than their iPhones. Oh, they do agree that the regular camera can take pictures that are different and in difficult situations but they are happy with 'good-enough' pictures.


The issue for us regular camera folks is whether the camera companies will stop innovating to the point that we will be basically left with old camera and lens models. Why, we would have to spend our 'photography-time' taking photos!! No more wild speculations about the next model specs, edge to edge sharpness, AF speeds and the like!! I like to read the reviews of cameras even when I will never buy them! Seriously, the LBA, GAS and other kinds of syndromes are harmless fun for most people and I would be sorry to have that aspect of photography pass away.

[johnmflores]

Extinct? No.

Endangered species? They already are.

[vonBaloney]

I don't understand these threads. Sure, new technologies replace old ones, but the capability you had with the old tech doesn't go away. Phones replace P&S cameras because they *ARE* P&S cameras, so there is no reason to miss what they are replacing. But they aren't going to replace DSLRs and medium format cameras until they can do the same things that those can, i.e. where's the phone where I can get a high-resolution close-up of a bird 100 feet away? Etc. And if and when they can do that, then who cares because we'll still be able to get the shots we could before, and probably some new ones that we couldn't. Things change size and shape, but the potential and capabilities of them generally only goes in one direction (i.e. more).

[tuco]

The phone's human interface to holding and taking a picture is so bad, I can't believe people use them as their main camera. So just not the "pros" will be using mirrorless and DSLRs for some time to come but also enthusiasts. But who knows what the masses growing up using POS phone cameras will like in the future.

[mrNewt]

Well, you also need to read in between the lines... he does say "Standalone Still Camera"... the future will bring cameras with internet connectivity and apps that you install on them for different reasons. And this is already slowly happening... more will be added in time.

The camera by itself as a single, isolated unit from the digital world is what is dying here.

Cellphones can have a limited sized chips in order to make them usable as cellphones. So they will never really work with MF or FF sensors in them, So cameras will still be around, but the traditional camera as most of us know them, will die.

[SpecialK]

Ah, but will they be full-frame smartphones?

[TER-OR]

If the Lytro type technology can be adapted (maybe it is) that would be great on a phone platform.

[cxdoo]

Meh.The same like desktops will be replaced by tablets.