bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Quoting from LensVid:

"Cameras are for older people – you can’t see this in the numbers but we clearly see this all around us – aside from the professional segment – dedicated cameras do not interest the younger generation. The people who are still interested in photography are typically around the ages of 40-60 or more – the same people who maybe shot with analog cameras as youngsters and now have the time and money to invest in photography as a hobby – their children and grandchildren are far less interested in cameras and prefer to use their smartphones."

In other words, as we die off, so will the camera business.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

That is a very short sighted and flawed piece of analysis. Smartphones are cameras - among other things - but they replace complete segments of the market, instamatic and disposable film cameras, and then digital P&S cameras. Probably the way to look at this would be to look at interchangeable lens cameras over multiple decades, perhaps along with range finders etc. and bridge cameras. Essentially tools for 'serious' photographers, and they come in all age groups. The economics are certainly changing, but so are the camera companies, finding new markets and so on. Who do you think makes the sensors in many smartphones? It isn't Apple.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

lol @ industry dying off because there of lack of 'client'... Think funeral home and industry... Less space? Let's burn folks to the stake*. Creates too much pollution? Let's liquefy the folks and flush the toilet and list the name on an internet web site. Next evolution?

All corporations evolve with the demographics so... This thread over the 'demise' of photography is just a BS topic, as usual.

Last week it was Nikon dying off, this week...
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* And make diamond(s) with the left over....

Rongnongno Loc: FL

As to the topic itself?

Only old farts, crazy obsessed individuals* and professionals are going nuts over expensive gear. We are all that and more...


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* Quite a few here were car obsessed (some still are) to pick-up girls...

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Did the instamatic kill off the SLR? I believe it got those interested in photography to purchase an SLR. Perhaps the incredible growth will not be there for DSLRs or even mirrorless due to price and convenient use. The link to the cell phone will allow you to share photos instantly and keep high quality at the same time. I am sure "Real" cameras will survive in some form or other.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I really don't care if the present camera industry dies. Of course the market is there; perhaps more so now than ever before. If today's industry can't meet customers' needs, then die already and make room for a new camera industry that will understand what people want!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

No, to your first question, but it might have had an effect on rangefinder cameras, 6cmx9cm, 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 field and view cameras, twin lens reflex cameras from Rollei and Mamiya and the Russian imports, Koni Omega Rapid and other press- and event- friendly cameras, and others.

Real cameras will continue to evolve, and just like the early digitals bear little resemblance to what is out there in form, function and image quality, we won't recognize a digital image capture device 10 yrs from now if it were handed to use today, along with the computing device that you'll need to work on the images.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

I would agree that some camera makers will disappear. And the breadth of camera kinds will slim down. Any bets on who will not die away.

Retired fat guy with a camera Loc: Colorado

Good God. You young people are a little sensitive aren't you? Canon and Nikon have both reported a drop in camera sales. Why? Cellphones. Are they cameras, yes. Would I own one, no. I do not need instant gratification. I am not so important that I can't miss a phone call. I absolutely hate to text. I have a 27" 4k monitor, if I want to find something on the computer. and if I am going to take a picture, I will use my Canon camera. And depending on the situation, with the lens I feel with be the best choice. And there lies the difference, my choice. I had a cellphone and threw it away.
Now to what the Gentleman wrote, if you look to see who posts pictures and who replies to posted pictures,the majority are people are around my age. In their 50's and 60's. We do have more disposable income. We have more time to pursue photography. We are not a cell phone culture. We tend to look up instead of down, at a little tiny screen.
As to who makes the sensors, who cares. I am sure it is a camera company, that is basic economics. Supply and demand. They would be foolish not to produce one.
I am so sorry your little feelers get hurt when, old guys like me, with cameras. Laugh at your cell phone. Make a duck face, take a selfie and chill out.

Jim Bob

I read somewhere (perhaps one of Thom Hogan's articles) that DSLR users tend to be older and at their demise that marketing share will be substantially reduced.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Who are you calling young, grasshopper?

From your post I suspect I am older than you are, or at least equivalent, and definitely more experienced. Plus I work in the tech industry, and clearly have a better understanding of how it works than you do, and I may have way more disposable income than you do. Your introductory post demonstrates that.

My feelings are not hurt at all, but yours maybe unless you do your research a little more thoroughly. However if I am ever in your neck of the woods, and see a half crazed, one kidneyed, old guy with a Canon 1D Mark III, I might just stop and say Hi.

Cheers!

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Trying to call the market is hard. Reading something somewhere is easy to do, but it doesn't always pass peer review! There is a very simple research project here to analyze the market dynamics, but unless somebody wants to pay for it, it probably won't be done. Anyone want to make an offer?

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

I still shoot a lot of film and a lot of different formats and I'm not alone, actually the number is growing and the best image quality is still achieved with the "dead"medium film! The only kind of film I do not shoot very often anymore is movie, because I'm having trouble to afford it, but if I could, that's what I would do the most (movie beats any digital cams out there in a heartbeat easily)!!

IBM

Dream on ,don't you realize that of all the phone snap shooters ,there will be much more of them buying full frames or cropped
Frame camereas when they get serious , there will be more of them than ever before , simply because there has been more exposed to the
Picture taking process, and will want take the final step , and there is thousands in the world or millions , that will have the cash one day

blackest Loc: Ireland

A lot of young people are interested in taking pictures and some of them decide they want to take good pictures and they want a real camera to do so. Yes you can take some photo's with a cell phone but you don't normally have much of a range of focal lengths.

Nikon is popular.