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Canon says as many as one in five camera buyers are choosing advanced DSLR cameras over compact models as they upgrade from smartphones. Picture: Supplied
THE SLOW death of the compact camera might be upon us but its killer is not the smartphone but bigger, better cameras.
As many as one in five Australian camera buyers are transitioning from phone photography straight into advanced digital SLR cameras, forcing manufacturers to issue new products and even abandon compact cameras before their release.
Canon product marketing manager Brendan Maher said fears that smartphones would replace cameras were proving unfounded, instead igniting an interest in more sophisticated camera hardware.
“What we see more and more are people skipping compact cameras and moving straight to a DSLR or a mirrorless camera — it makes up between 15 and 20 per cent of the market,” he said.
It’s a trend borne out by camera sales worldwide, which rose 11 per cent in December last year, according to the Camera and Imaging Products Association.
Sales of more expensive, advanced cameras jumped 26 per cent during the peak gift-giving month, however, and were higher in 2016 than in the two years before it.
But Maher said this presented different challenges for camera makers and users alike, as smartphones did not fully explain photography settings and jargon.
“These cameras can be quite overwhelming to pick up,” he said.
“There are lots of buttons and dials, the language of photography can be quite confronting and confusing.”
Canon revamped the menus inside its two forthcoming digital SLR cameras, the 800D and 77D, he said, removing references to aperture and shutter speeds, and replacing them with questions like “do you want a darker image or a brighter image?”.
“This is a complete overhaul of the menu system that I haven’t seen for at least six years,” Maher said.
Canon says as many as one in five camera buyers are choosing advanced DSLR cameras over compact models as they upgrade from smartphones. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
But while advanced cameras thrived in the changing market, compact cameras were struggling to maintain their popularity.
Just as Canon launched three interchangeable lens cameras, Nikon cancelled its planned launch of three compact cameras due for release in June.
Circuit issues with the Nikon DL series and “the drop in the number of expected sales due to the slowdown of the market,” were cited as reasons for its failure to launch.
Originally published as The real killer of the traditional camera