INSIGHT: What the future holds for cameras

Given the ubiquitousness of consumers using smartphones to take photos, could this sound the death knell for digital cameras? Aaron Rigby, head of insight at Ebiquity Australia believes it’s a possibility, for cheaper models. “Camera phones have impacted on the low-end compact digital camera market. I can see consumers who have very basic visual needs - just wanting a ‘point and shoot’ - bypassing the compact digital camera in preference of a phone with a decent camera and high MPs.”

It is a sentiment shared, to an extent, by Nirvik Singh, chairman and CEO of Grey Group Asia-Pacific. “With mobile phones offering increasingly higher resolution and better quality pictures, using lenses such as Carl-Zeiss and Schneider-Kreuznach, it seems the end is getting nearer, if not for the DSLRs, at least for the digital compact.”

But, Jonathan Lang, head of strategy and integration at Y&R Asia stands up for the standard digital camera claiming, “for disposable photography, the mobile is fine, but for reliable quality for important moments there is still a place for the standalone digital camera, compact as well as the DSLR.”

Lang points to the Nokia N8 as the only camera phone with the attributes to stand out against most compact digital cameras, “It’s been road tested by photo gods like David Bailey, music videos have been made with it, aerial shots of London and stop frame animations.”

One of the reasons that mobile phones appear to have the upper hand over the lower-end digital camera lies in social media. “With the prevalence of social networking and society’s addiction to sharing content, the draw for a consumer to be able to take a photo and share it instantly is a huge plus for camera phones,” says Rigby.

For daily shoots and impromptu moments, smartphones suffice: they are readily on-hand, and can post photos potentially seconds after they have been taken. Camera brands looking to compete against this should “look to product offering,” says Singh. “There are some features that regular digital cameras can borrow from the mobile phone world, such as GPS functionality, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.”

This may be one way for camera brands to fight-back and push sales, but another may be, ironically, to utilise the growth of social media and embrace the changes in consumer behaviour it
has fashioned.

Consumers are enjoying photography more than ever before. Some realise the limitations of their phone cameras and are looking to ‘trade up’, and according to Lang, some photography brands are aware of this. “There are moments that can’t be left in the hands of a toy-like mobile phone camera. That’s why Canon tell us to ‘take stories’ rather than pictures, with their ‘tru capture’ technology making visual memories all the more real.” Such campaigns suggest that camera brands realise they have lost the affordable digital market and are targeting amateur photographers with more sophisticated (and more expensive) products. “This growing segment will be increasingly targeted by camera brands with products, which not only offer a range of professional features, but also come at a comparatively affordable price,” predicts Singh.

So the funeral procession for digital cameras hasn’t quite started, yet. For the budding photography enthusiast looking for pixel perfect pictures with latest imaging technologies, there is no real substitute for a sophisticated digital camera. For others, decent picture quality suffices for spontaneous snapping and immediate sharing. 

This article was originally published in the May issue of Campaign Asia-Pacific.