[interested_observer]

This is bold prediction, but it’s clear to me that over the next several years, the standalone still camera will disappear from the hands of everyone – with the exception of a few high end professionals.

Professional photographers (if they still exist then… and I think many, or to be honest some will) will continue to make photographs with DSLR/ Medium format and perhaps mirrorless still cameras – but the vast majority of photographers will continue the exodus towards smartphones.

The smartphones and/or iPhones have already won.

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

[Paleo Pete]

I can't see the stand alone camera going the way of the dodo, I think too many people still like their cameras, and many of us have a bad case of GAS...(Gear Acquisition Syndrome) Don't know why it ever got called LBA...I've had it with guitars for 30 years or more so I'm getting a double whammy...

[mrNewt]

That is true... sad but true. It won't happen that soon though... maybe in 10 years or so.
The next generation will kill it for sure... unless something magical happens with the DSLRs of today.

[Rondec]

I don't totally buy it. I do think smart phones have killed point and shoots, but there will still be plenty of room for interchangable lens cameras for other situations. Most of what you get with a camera phone are snap shots. All well and good, but if you want narrow depth of field, really wide angles, telephoto, you need something more. Most ILCs are purchased to take photos in situations where phones aren't adequate.

[UncleVanya]

I fear this may be true - and I don't know that it will be noticed by most. Yes a lot of us have a lot of gear and a lot of great images are created - but people in general don't care anymore. No one prints much anymore. Pictures aren't going on literal walls - they exist in cyberspace. The quality level is acceptable from the devices they use and they have no patience for more complex methods of creating images.

Despite this - I plan to ride the last wave. I plan to stay out until the tide sweeps me away. I will make pictures and enjoy the hobby for as long as I can.

[TER-OR]

I can't really argue with it - the P&S market will die. Bridges will live for a while if phones can't match their zoom and flexibility. Enthusiasts will be able to get DSLRs, but maybe from fewer manufacturers. The social media aspect of the cameras does really matter. Most of us will use smartphones to share snapshots, which is most of what I think of cameras in phones.

For enthusiasts, though, the capabilities of a smartphone won't suffice. We should all hope that a few platforms continue to be profitable enough for the corporations to continue supporting them. I, for one, can't do field macros for my bee surveys with a smartphone - I need the capabilities of the DSLR and long macro.

[stevebrot]

Bloggers, bloggers, bloggers...


Steve

[mrNewt]

Despite this - I plan to ride the last wave. I plan to stay out until the tide sweeps me away. I will make pictures and enjoy the hobby for as long as I can.

Same here! Well, at least for as long as I can... if they start making gear only for professionals, and they cost $6000+, that might be the end of me .

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This summer I had to give up on 35mm film cameras... a very sad and painful decision, but the cost to develop and print the negatives is getting way too high so a decision had to be done (plus good developer studios are pretty much gone locally ). I still shoot MF, but that might be ending soon as well.

[Rondec]

The question I have is more if there will come a time when everything will be 4 K video and most photos will just be captures from a video stream. Seems like from a sports standpoint, that could be a thing sooner rather than later.

On the other hand, landscape and portraiture are applications where camera phones still struggle, both with dynamic range and with dedicated lenses and feels like folks who do those things a lot will stick with still cameras for awhile.

[luftfluss]

Bloggers, bloggers, bloggers...


Steve

Its easy to make predictions on the Internet, eh?

[monochrome]

A similar prediction was made in the eighties - that the onslaught of very good auto-wind, auto-exposure, fixed-focus pocket rangefinder film cameras would spell the demise of ILC's. That didn't happen. The DID replace traditional rangefinders, though.

[alamo5000]

If you look at the interview I did with Sean Davey for the forum a while back he made a similar but different prediction. His statement was more along the lines of cameras that can shoot 30fps and its basically getting faster. So the DSLR as we know it...people will basically be able to video record a session and pick a frame and make a print of it.

The art is changing but the days of perfectly timed and lit images is changing. If you can get 30fps and go digitally fix all highlights and shadows etc from one screen grab...

[Wolfeye]

I think Pentax users are inordinately obsessed with the future.

[Dartmoor Dave]

It'll die the same way vinyl records died, and valve amplifiers died, and manual gearboxes in cars died, and. . . well, film died. It'll still be used by the remaining few who are interested in the process, and doing that process well, as a thing of value in itself.

[Not a Number]

Wristwatches were supposed to be doomed too.