Despite camera-enabled, app-heavy smartphones decimating sales of entry-level cameras, the declining digital camera market will recover.
This is the assertion of Heinrich Pretorius, Canon product specialist at computer hardware equipment and software distribution company, Drive Control Corporation (DCC).
"The industry is experiencing a decline in entry-level camera sales which is a result of the uptake of Smartphones that feature camera capabilities," says Heinrich Pretorius.
Research firm IDC expects shipments of such cameras to fall 9.1% to 17.4 million units from 19.1 million units last year, with two of the world's biggest makers of high-end cameras, Canon and Nikon, both lowering their forecasts.
"Consumers are opting for the convenience of having their mobile devices with them wherever they go, with apps like Instagram allowing users to edit, add filters and share their images on social media networks, making point-and-shoot cameras seem unnecessary," he says.
"Whether in a business environment or for personal purposes, cellphones have become much more than about making a phone call or texting; you can open work documents and e-mails on your device."
Pretorius argues that although this is an alarming development for manufacturers, it doesn't spell the end for traditional entry-level cameras as it has been widely believed.
"A variety of factors go into the creation of good images, which digital cameras are much more suited to fulfil, as smartphone cameras simply do not have these advanced capabilities. Firstly, the features on smartphones are usually automatic, not manual, limiting control over the photographic outcome," explains Pretorius.
"There's also picture quality, with pixilation on smartphone cameras caused by small sensors and lack of sensitivity controls; digital cameras have larger sensors and ISO settings to adjust the amount of light that hits the sensor during a certain shot," states Pretorius.
He points out that a picture only comes to life after printing, with the quality of pictures produced on smartphones hardly good enough to print an A3-sized image.
"There are genres of photography, such as sport and wildlife, where the traditional SLR will always prevail, and in the past year, manufacturers have started incorporating some of the functionalities found on the smartphone into digital SLR cameras, with innovations such as the Canon PowerShot SX280 HS, which has built-in WiFi and GPS, hitting the market," adds Pretorius. "There exist other opportunities as well for technologies such as 3D to be incorporated into SLR cameras at some stage."
Pretorius emphasises that the demand for what the core function of a camera is - taking good images - will always be there.
"This decline will instead drive camera manufacturers to produce better and better products," concludes Pretorius.
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