Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
The laws of physics impose limitations. Stuff takes room. Zooming involves moving a prism inside an optical structure. People don't just want zoom, they want a usable camera, too, which means decent apertures, which means more glass. On the other hand, people want their phones slim and sleek. Cell phones can take good pictures in the right circumstances but those are limited and will always be compared to larger cameras with more technical capabilities. And we haven't even got into filters.
Yep - agree. I get it. I'm an engineer.
But I guess from a market perspective, users don't see it that way. That's why p&s sales volumes are cratering at the expense of smartphones. It's true that p&s have better optical quality in zooming and generally have better sensors too. But in the wide middle spot of use of a p&s there is pretty solid convergence with smartphone use.
P&s cameras are getting squeezed pretty hard on both ends. On the low end by smartphones and on the high end by mirrorless cameras. If you don't have either, that's pretty much your p&s market. Not many people who don't have a smartphone these days.
I used to do semi-pro sports photography so I have all the high end Canon stuff. When I wanted to take a quick picture I'd reach for the p&s camera. Now? I use my smartphone. And I'm moving over to mirrorless to cover my higher end needs. The two losers in the camera business are going to be P&S cameras and DSLRs from a
mass market perspective.