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Whither compact cameras
Jun. 5th, 2013 08:28 pmI find myself mildly curious about compact cameras. There used to be lots of them on the market. But today in Dick Smith I noticed that the formerly large display now only has a handful of models on it. Now that is hardly surprising with the ever increasing quality of cameras in phones. On the other extreme, serious photographers don't seem to use compact cameras - they use DSLRs or some other "full size" items*.
But there still appears to be a gap there for the compact cameras. They still have better lenses and better sensors than even the best phones (not forgetting optical zoom) and they fit in a pocket. But I don't know when I last saw anybody using one. Is the gap more illusion than actual? Are they an obsolete technology?
The reason I'm curious is because I have just finished watching a documentary series about a properly obsolete technology - bulletin board systems. They were a technology that went from peak usage to being properly obsolete in about 6 months. I couldn't help wondering if these small cameras are in the same category. And yet, there was a tiny Panasonic Lumix with 10x optical zoom and 16Mpixel and I couldn't help thinking what a nice thing that would be to own.
Anybody out there still using a compact camera?
*Really I have no idea what those full size cameras entail - I an not a serious user of camera technology. Not ones that don't fit in my pocket anyway.
But there still appears to be a gap there for the compact cameras. They still have better lenses and better sensors than even the best phones (not forgetting optical zoom) and they fit in a pocket. But I don't know when I last saw anybody using one. Is the gap more illusion than actual? Are they an obsolete technology?
The reason I'm curious is because I have just finished watching a documentary series about a properly obsolete technology - bulletin board systems. They were a technology that went from peak usage to being properly obsolete in about 6 months. I couldn't help wondering if these small cameras are in the same category. And yet, there was a tiny Panasonic Lumix with 10x optical zoom and 16Mpixel and I couldn't help thinking what a nice thing that would be to own.
Anybody out there still using a compact camera?
*Really I have no idea what those full size cameras entail - I an not a serious user of camera technology. Not ones that don't fit in my pocket anyway.