Rumored death of the DSLR
by eNoBlog on Oct.29, 2009, under News
Ben Gottesman has written an insightful article predicting a downturn of DSLR sales once large frame all-in-one cameras, akin to the Canon Sureshot of film days come out. As someone who switched from a Canon SLR, a lowly T50, to a Sureshot some time around 1992, I certainly identify with Gottesman argument and think it makes a great deal of sense.
I do look, however, upon the advent of this transition with some reluctance and sadness. I have never learned and grown so much in my photography, as in the last two years of DSLR ownership. Gottesman is ultimately right, however. Consumers will value high quality and simplicity of an all-in-one over the complexity and wealth of features of a DSLR. Achy backs and necks no doubt will welcome the lightened load as well.
Ultimately, however, this won’t spell the “death” of DSLRs in general, as much as it will hurt sales of entry level, low-end DSLRs. The professional will still have use, and indeed, need of the DSLR advantage that no simple camera can bring.
October 30th, 2009 on 8:54 pm
Good article. Once some consumers find out what MFT is all about they will definitely jump on. I have heard that there are some Nikon mirrorless patents out there already.
I do think the DSLR buying frenzy is already on the wane. A few I know who bought D200s because it was an award winner now have the cams sitting n the closet. They rarely take them out anymore.
A few weeks ago I was up in Niagara Falls shooting a page for a calendar and a couple came up and asked me if I could take some shots of them. They said it “looked like I knew what I was doing” ha ha. Anyway, when I was done with my work shot they handed me a Canon 5D to snap the pics. They told me it was the worst purchase they had ever made. They still hadn’t figured out the cam, and it was heavy for them to haul around. I quote “Everywhere we go we have to take this stupid backpack. What a pain in the ass.”
Well when the shots were all done, the couple was on their way back to the parking lot, as was I. I gave them a few pointers on how to use their camera, and since they got into a nice new Mercedes for the ride home, recommended the Leica DL4 as a go everywhere cam.
For these people, in part it was a desire for quality without doing the proper research work. They figured just buy an expensive camera and that would be that. DSLRs are not for everyone. And some of the people who jumped in are finding this out.
October 30th, 2009 on 10:53 pm
Sounds like someone else who thought DSLRs come with a P&S mode. Actually, they do, but it isn’t the best, regardless of all the marketing.
November 11th, 2009 on 9:30 pm
Imagine the surprise of a girl I know who asked to borrow my D200. She took it to shoot her little pet photo job only to find that there was no “AUTO” selection on the top dial. Come to think of it, the camera doesn’t even have a top dial
Yeah, my cell phone started ringing…
As for taking an unknown camera to a paid job, well that’s a whole ‘nother subject LOL.