wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

My wife and I were on an eleven day bus tour of Germany 09/17 to 09/28. Needless to say, there were people from all over the world there to enjoy the Germany sights and beer. The largest percentage of tourist that I could determine were from the Orient.

The largest perecentage of cameras were cellphones and tablets - with or without a selfie stick (~93%), P&S cameras ranging from simple to sophisticated (~5%), followed by interchangeable lense cameras (~2%). Even in our tour group of 42 there were only two interchangeable lense cameras and three sophisticated P&S cameras. Everyone else shot with their cellphones and one tablet.

From the way most were shooting, they were going to be lucky if they got a good picture of themselves and something in the background to identify where they actually were. About a third also took pictures of the places they where at (non-selfies) which more than likely came out better than the selfies. My wife's shots, with a little editing, went straight to her work and personal Facebook pages - and they were pretty good since she took a little time to compose and edit the shots.

Based on my observations, anyone thinking that DSLRs are going to come back strong had better get out in the real world and look around. We are going to lose more camera manufactures at some time in the relatively near future.

macsmom Loc: S Carolina

I'm thinking most people don't go to Octoberfest to take pictures. . .

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

To a certain degree, you are right. But most of my observations were based off of the sights and what was being used to capture them. At the beer gardens, other than my camera, almost everthing was cellphones taking pictures. And, yes, there were selfies and group shots being taken in the beer gardens with cellphones. And my estimates of percentages could be off; they could easily be ~95% cellphones, ~3.5% P&S, and ~1.5% interchangable lense cameras. I would not estimate it going the other way.

macsmom Loc: S Carolina

Well, if you see me out and about in Europe, I'll be easy to spot. I'm not one of the 95%. I'm all for whatever floats your boat, though. To each his own. Looking forward to your shots. My husband and I are headed to eastern Europe for our 30th.

thewags Loc: Phoenix

I'm not sure that things have changed much over the decades. Used to be that very few folks carried fancy cameras. Just the photographers. Most touristS and the like carried brownies or disposables. Then came the digital revolution and decent cameras came down in price, and suddenly everyone was a photographer. Now, with cell phones getting so good, all those would-be photogs are abandoning the DSLR. Admittedly, that is a large group, but the market share for folks who want a decent camera probably hasn't changed much in all these years.

AZNikon Loc: Mesa, AZ

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Tourists = whatever as camera as long as it shows something, anything. Bragging about somewhere is not new. The same was said over Instamatics vs 24x36 'eons' ago.

36 mm cameras were already seldom seen yet it was their golden age with film.

Your observations, while not wrong, simply reflects the generic attitude of folks toward documenting their activities. The cheaper the better. The attitude 'cheaper is better' has not taken hold within the photographer community and this is where you are mis-reading what you are seeing. Take a bus load of snap-shooter photographers in a tour and you will not see many cell phones if any. Walking next to a group of folks like that, armed to the teeth with their equipment, and you will say 'wow! DSLRs are not dead!'

Folks that have a particular interest to the point of investing time and money into their hobby, any hobby, are a minority, there is no way around that, regardless on how you try to depict it. Before we were seeing painters, now we do not or rarely, why? There is no painters anymore? The answer is no, they are still there, they simply take a picture and paint a home, in their studio, wherever. For them there is no point, They are mobbed by the same tourists you are mentioning and see their concentration or their pleasure of being alone with their paintbrushes taken away. Not only that, they get insane questions and cannot even see whatever they are trying to paint.

What is really changing is not the ratio camera/whatever but the number of folks going trooping in the places doing whatever they please w/o regard for anything or anyone. Photographer also get tired of having some ***** step in front of their carefully set tripod because they think if a photographer is there it is a good spot to stand THEN you have the inane questions. (not to mention the really insane that will push the tripod away...)

Photographers, unless hired, are loners in their craft. Snap-shooters congregate is moving school like fishes. Tourists are invading species. Guess who has what equipment. The last two 'breed' are pains in the rear-end for photographer, the first is responsible for the comments and inane questions and the second destroys any notion of tranquility unless you are onto crowd photography and the insanity that goes with it.

I remember a spot in the Alps, near Barcelonette that was hard to access so it was a pleasure to sit on the rocks and enjoy the view (Ubaye vallee). Now there is a road. A point of view has also been created. Folks stop with their cars or bus loads and take turns taking pictures from there. Most are likely to use cell phones. Before a few enterprising and hard core photographers were straining to bring large format view cameras before dawn to catch the light and the vallee still hidden in the fog clouds. We do not see these guys anymore, or more exactly, you have a hard time catching them at work. What took hours of drudging up the mountain now take minutes. They are there before the crowd and are gone when the crowd arrives.

You are observing the worst and make the wrong assumption from that. Yes, you are seeing what you are describing. No, it does not reflect on the secluded word of photographers.

PS. You create the type of threads before... here and here... Nothing wrong with that other than you seem to be a guy on a soap box screaming that end of the (photographer's) world is tomorrow.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

DSLRs are a luxury item outside the need and the complexity and the cost of most of the general population. On a weight & size vs results ratio, most people can take just as good (that is: ranging from great to average to inferior) images from a pocket sized device as when using a DSLR in Auto. They have images that cost less to create without the complexity and hassle of lugging camera and lens(es). And for most, images that can be shared directly to social media without still another device after the camera.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Who cares?
Even if 99.9999999% of the world starts using phones for photography that doesn't mean DSLRs will stop working.
If you are one of those who need to be doing what everyone else is doing, get rid of your DSLR and use a phone.

cthahn

Most of these people are not photographers but just picture takers. Take a look at the pictures that they take and it will become obvious. Running around with a camera on a stick. How stupid.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I do not tend to agree with you. dSLR cameras eventually will suffer a transformation to mirrorless. I do not believe the dSLR camera will disappear from the market but there will be less models than what we have now.
These sophisticated cameras are not for everybody but the quality is there. There is no way anybody with pictures from a cell phone can compare the quality to those made with a dSLR. Cell phones and tablets are convenient and since cameras are incorporated in them and practically everybody has one, it is just a matter of using those cell phones to take pictures.
If those pictures are going to be used for the Internet I will be the first one to tell you that I see nothing wrong with it but if what you want is a good enlargement or the convenience of using interchangeable lenses to fit the subject then it is obvious that a cell phone will not do.
Do not expect to see dSLR or mirrorless cameras to become obsolete in the near future, it will not happen. Those cameras are made for those like us with an interest in photography not for the general public. I bet none of those person in your trip shooting with cell phones would be very comfortable using a dSLR camera body with interchangeable lenses.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

I was amazed on my recent trip to South Africa to see a safari vehicle loaded with tourists taking photos of lions, etc., with their cell phones. I wonder how happy they will be with their results? I wonder if they would be less happy and start to think about learning to take photos if they saw the photos which I had taken?

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

My observation there.

MTG44 Loc: Corryton, Tennessee

Just got back from Yosemite NP and there was a plethora of interchangeable lens cameras.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

They will be thrilled. They will post it on FB and get 500 likes and feel vindicated and never look at them again.