After digital photography became the norm in the early to mid 2000's there was a boom in sales of all kinds of cameras, from compacts to full-blown professional DSLR's. Companies made a lot of money, released a lot of gear and the photographic gravy train started. Unfortunately it didn't last that long and now, year after year sales are falling. There is one obvious reason for that, but it seems to me that there are other factors too.
SMARTPHONES.
However it's way too simple to say that this is the only reason for the demise of DSLR's, Mirrorless Cameras and fixed lens and interchangeable lens cameras. I see other reasons for this sales nosedive. I think it's probably inevitable that sales will go back to professional / enthusiast film camera levels, but those who are supposed to supply and encourage the photographic gear market have contributed to it's demise as well, by a combination of wrong decisions, greed, inappropriate use of social media and self centred attention seeking that actually makes the situation worse.
MANUFACTURERS COMPLETE INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT PEOPLE WANT.
We've just seen many major manufacturers release products to fuel 'Full Frame Fever'. They all seem to think that making mirrorless cameras with 35mm sized / 'full frame sensors' is the way to go. And in a complete misunderstanding of what ordinary consumers obviously want they have gone for bigger, heavier, more complex and more expensive cameras. For reasons best known to themselves they have listened exclusively to the photographic internet, which after all is only a small minority of the possible number of buyers for photographic products and decided that this is the way to go. So it's higher quality all round in terms of sensors, lenses and video options and the higher prices needed to pay for all that R & D. I would have thought that the fact that billions of people now use smartphones for their photography needs is proof that this is the wrong way to go. People don't want options they are never going to use, high megapixel counts, pro quality video options etc. They want simplicity, ease of use and high quality results without having to use a manual with hundreds of pages of instructions on how to operate a machine with far too many knobs, dials and touchscreen alternatives. And since most of it is gimmicky BS anyway they have voted with their wallets and purses and decided that the fast evolving smartphone with it's easy to understand interface is the way to go. And who can blame them? Certainly I, as someone who earns his living from photography, can see the benefits of smartphone photography and as time passes I shoot more on smartphones. And they are no handicap to me selling stock images as I do.
So where are the cameras that could integrate fully with the internet and social media? Where are the cameras that people who want a little more control over their picture taking and better quality images with a range of lenses, go to? Well as yet, they don't exist. Zeiss are having a go, but that's going to be VERY expensive camera and will fail to achieve mass sales. Everything else is moving away from the 'Smartphone Aesthetic' into some kind of nerdosphere where people bicker about technical irrelevance. And for anyone going onto the internet to find out what the best camera is for them this is very off putting. Which leads me to..........
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERNET ACTUALLY CONTRIBUTES TO INCREASING LACK OF INTEREST IN STAND ALONE CAMERAS.
There is a website that constantly produces these 'conventional' photography falling sales graphs and bemoaning the conclusions. Without realising that it's the bulk of these sites that are basically helping to create the 'problem' (if that's what it is). Self styled 'reviewers' 'commentators' 'photographic vloggers' and the like have created a toxic self absorbed environment which seeks to promote conflict for personal gain and is almost always negative in it's conclusions. When I started seriously becoming interested in photography in the mid-eighties, there was no internet. Instead I bought lots of photographic magazines. And they were encouraging, nurturing publications that communicated a love of photography and opened up a world of possibilities for those of us that had discovered a passion for creating two dimensional images. They were in complete contrast to what the situation is now. There were lots of 'how to' features, articles on famous and respected photographers from the past and interviews with current professionals. There were lots of pictures and it's not an exaggeration to say that these magazines communicated the joy of photography. There was the reviewing of new gear, but since there was no constant upgrading of film cameras like there is today with digital, that was much less than it is now. The people who wrote the articles for these magazines also could write well, plus they often had professional experience and they knew their stuff.
Now we have something completely different. It's all about the gear and anyone can (and does) set themselves up as some kind of 'photographic' guru. Everyday it seems more and more opinionated narcissists crawl out of the woodwork and feel the need to pontificate into a camera about whatever they like. These people, usually men, are often physically unattractive, inarticulate and opinionated and follow the recent trend of mouthing off about gear they haven't seen, haven't used and haven't bought. And it's all done to 'monetise' themselves. These people have read the stories about the internet making fools into millionaires and decided they would have a go. And the style of all this is confrontational and negative. And for some reason the camera manufacturers send these people cameras to review or invite them to their overseas junkets. And constantly time and time again this all increases negativity towards new gear after an initial hyping up and seems to actually encourage bickering and a kind of football hooligan type brand support. Lots of insults fly about and 'clickbait' articles come faster than a plague of locusts. And of course all of this doesn't serve the purpose of encouraging people to buy new gear, in fact I would argue that it has the opposite effect.
SO CAN THIS BE REVERSED ?
Well I suspect that there is very little that can be done to reverse any of this. I think it's far too late for that. And in reality, does it actually matter? I don't make any money from this blog. I'm not encouraging you to subscribe or persuade you to buy your gear from a sponsored link, so I can earn commission. I'm not sponsored by anybody. So, I'm not going to lose income by the fact that the stand alone camera market is shrinking. However, lots of 'review' sites and YouTube vloggers will do exactly that. Yet, strangely, like lemmings they continue with their negativity about certain brands, continue to criticise with no basis to do so and slowly but surely ensure that the results of using cameras, i.e. the creation of images remains a poor second to owning the 'right' gear. Yes there are exceptions, but not amongst the major YouTube players.
And will photographic gear manufacturers begin to understand the reasons that people don't want to buy cameras anymore? They will try to make out that 'full-frame' mirrorless is some kind of revolution, when in actual fact it's swapping one big heavy expensive camera (DSLR) for something similar. If they somehow imagine in their delusions that this strategy is going to keep them on the gravy train, they are sadly mistaken. Those of us that are still passionate about photography won't tolerate being taken for granted and charged more and more for products that don't merit the advertising hype that they come with for much longer.
The problem with all of this is that there is still a market for stand alone cameras out there. There are people who want to photograph wildlife and sports. There are wedding, news, product and portrait photographers, both amateur and professional who can't use smartphones for what they want to do. There are people who want to own 'serious' photographic gear and want to use it to make a living and / or fulfil themselves creatively. And there are I'm sure huge numbers of people out there who have gotten the photographic 'bug' from their smartphones and want to take it further. Most of these don't live in the forums of the photographic internet and it's these people who are so badly served by the camera companies and the parasites who feed off them. What we need is a re-evaluation of photography on the internet. We need sites which demonstrate and celebrate the pleasure and creative satisfaction that photography is capable of. We need reviews that emphasise the positives in camera gear and not bicker incessantly about 4K/60P. And these days there is far too much emphasis on video anyway. Sure it's great to be able to shoot professional looking footage, but how many of us actually need (or even want) 4K 10-bit 422 HDR recording? How many of us even know what that means?
I'M NOT OPTIMISTIC
I'm under no illusion that any of this is going to change. The photographic internet is full of camera owners, but I see no evidence to suggest that these people are photographers. Indeed reading a lot of stuff on the internet I often wonder whether a lot of them actually ever intend to attempt to create meaningful images. Lot's of smartphone photographers however are intent on documenting their families lives and it could be argued have a more coherent point of view than most of those who love to argue about their camera choices. There is only one area of hope that I see as a possibility for reversing this decline. And that is getting a lot more young people, and especially young women involved in photography. Enthusiast (and Professional) photography is way too dominated by men 'of a certain age' and you only have to go to any photography show to see the evidence of that.
However, again I'm at a loss to see how to get teenagers interested in the possibility of creative photography. I have no ideas about how to take the fact that they photograph all the time and upload to social media and turn that into something more. An appreciation of the world around them instead of just churning out self obsessed selfies. When I became obsessed by photography (admittedly in my 30's) I wanted to see everything. I delved into the history of photography, went to exhibitions and immersed myself in what had happened in the past and what my contemporaries were up to. Now where, apart from Dpreview (which does have a go but in a somewhat patronising way) can you find that on a regular basis. You certainly won't find it from the Northrups, Kaiman Wong, Chris and Jordan, Gordon Laing and others of that ilk. There you will only find videos about the Northrups, Kaiman Wong, Chris and Jordan, Gordon Laing etc etc........ How many sites actually have links to genuine photographers and genuine photography.
I did watch a programme on the BBC a couple a days ago about Don McCullin, one of the worlds great photographers and a genuine national treasure. To see him bouncing around at 83, still creating beautiful inspirational photography was a joy. (Here is a link to the programme however I'm unsure as to whether those outside the UK can view it) Personally I'd have stuff like this on the National Education syllabus, but I see no indication that will ever happen. There should be lot's more stuff about the impact of photography on our world on the photographic internet, but mostly all we get is constantly bombarded about buying as much gear as possible. The possibilities of what we can create with our cameras is always emphasised less than the merits of face detection software etc.
Finally, this is not the first time I've written about this and it won't be the last. But mine is a very small voice and it needs some of those with greater influence to get behind a change of focus. But since they seem to obsessed with self promotion and making money I doubt it's going to happen. Maybe we get what (and who) we deserve.
