Why point-and-shoot cameras are in trouble

[x635 4,066]

Sad.

In Smartphone Era, Point-and-Shoots Stay Home

SAM GROBART, On Saturday December 4, 2010, 2:53 am EST

Ariel Dunitz-Johnson, a 30-year-old illustrator in San Francisco, bought a point-and-shoot camera in May. But in July, she bought a smartphone, with a camera built in.

Soon, whenever she wanted to take a picture, she found herself reaching for the smartphone, a Droid Incredible. She barely uses her point-and-shoot, a Panasonic DMC-LX3.

“It’s much easier to share those pictures with my friends,” she explained, through social networks or e-mail. “With my point-and-shoot, I have to plug it into my computer and upload the photos. It’s just a few more steps than I want to take.”

The point-and-shoot camera, which has been a part of American households since 1900, when George Eastman introduced the Kodak Brownie, is endangered. Like other single-use devices — the answering machine, the desktop calculator, the Rolodex — it is being shoved aside by a multipurpose device: the smartphone and its camera, which takes better snapshots with each new model.

FULL ARTICLE: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/In-Smartphone-Era-nytimes-1102949571.html?x=0

[OnTheWheel 43]

Maybe point and shoot cameras will start using wifi to "share" pictures as well. Theyre going to have to step up to the plate or be extinct.

[JBE 328]

I'm with wheel. But, I don't think you're going to see that option for a few more years.

[antiquefirelt 994]

This might be a little "wishful" thinking on the part of Smart Phone makers. PaS cameras still offer much better options for people who want to take quality photos. PaS biggest strength may be the true optical zoom which is next to impossible with a phone sized platform. In fact PaS offers real competition for the pro-sumer market of DSLR's, given that the average person can get a greater lens range in a PaS than any moderately priced DSLR lens. Once you get above the 300mm zoom, the SLR lens prices are out of the range of the average consumer, yet the PaS allows wider and longer lens without ever having the wrong one on the platform.

[IzzyEng4 427]

Phone cams will never be able to capture a picture that is good quality compared to full size or point and shoot cameras.

[Mark Z 18]

Phone cams will never be able to capture a picture that is good quality compared to full size or point and shoot cameras.

Sorry, but the wife's new iPhone does a better job than the digital we bought a few years ago and is much more available. I can see better and better camera phones with each new generation, i don't think it is just wishful thinking from the phone makers.

[antiquefirelt 994]

Sorry, but the wife's new iPhone does a better job than the digital we bought a few years ago and is much more available. I can see better and better camera phones with each new generation, i don't think it is just wishful thinking from the phone makers.

I'd agree when it comes to just "snapping a pic" when you aren't planning to be taking photos, but the inability to focus on subjects at any distance is a major downfall. While you can use the digital zoom, the pic quality on the view screen quickly diminishes. To each there own, but as someone who take tons of photos on vacation, my phone most likely will never replace my point and shoot 20x optical lens with image stabilization.

[x635 4,066]

Maybe point and shoot cameras will start using wifi to "share" pictures as well. Theyre going to have to step up to the plate or be extinct.

I've already got that function installed in my wife's point and shoot. (Canon Powershot) via an "Eye Fi" card:

http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Fi-Connect-Wireless-Memory-EYE-FI-4CN/dp/B003DV4234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291828958&sr=8-1

You're going to start seeing a lot of new features in upcoming point and shoots, including geotagging and built in Wi-Fi. I wouldn't even be suprised if one of the camera manufacturers came up with or teamed up with a cell phone manufacturer to make a camera that's already a phone.

I also agree that the point and shoot's not going anywhere for now. I keep a Canon S95 or another Powershot with me at all times, and it takes a thousand times better photos. You can't replace a good lens with a cell phone camera, nor can you replace the inner workings of a camera.

[fireguy30 13]

Maybe point and shoot cameras will start using wifi to "share" pictures as well. Theyre going to have to step up to the plate or be extinct.

I'm with wheel. But, I don't think you're going to see that option for a few more years.

They already have a friend of mine has one kodac makes one he can take pics and send to his email or post on line right from the cam.

Phone cams will never be able to capture a picture that is good quality compared to full size or point and shoot cameras.

i disagree i have a cam phone that takes pics in HD and i can blow them up poster size with no prob better then a 6 mp point an shoot

[Alpinerunner 61]

All good points, and in the end it's going to end up to the user and their requirements. I think for most users, the pictures that come out of any new smartphone are very sufficient. I think that everything past the Blackberry takes good enough pictures for the general public. IMO the Blackberry is the cutoff. I haven't been satisfied with anything upto and including Blackberry, and every new iPhone, Droid, etc, seems great.

It's really about the convenience factor, too. I've had a basic Cannon powershot forever, and rarely used it because 1) many times you don't know when a "photo-op" is going to take place, and 2) when I am going somewhere where I know I'll want pictures like a hike, I don't want to carry it around. The pictures from my iPhone 4 are (in my opinion) amazing, and I don't even use the HDR option.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here because we have a lot of semi-professional photographers here, but for the average joe, I do think point and shoot cameras day's are numbered.