Younger Generation Fuels Growth in Compact Camera Sales, are Camera Makers Paying Attention?

#21
It's about time for a high IQ compact Canon, FF or APS/C.
Rangefinder style or like the M6.
I believe demand exists, as proven by Leica, Fuji, Ricoh and even S..y.
According to my Leica contact, many Leica Q customers are young + high percentage of female customers.
I would immediately buy a viewfinder equipped compact FF Canon with a 35 or 28mm lens.
 
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#22
A point and shoot capable of DPAF that would be as quick as possible to the RF system would be nice. One of the reasons why I upgraded from point and shoot to DSLR back in the day was to get the better AF system.

They would also need to make the night photography capabilities better then modern smartphones and remove the 15sec shutter limit, with a tripod I've seen smartphone shots of the night sky look pretty good!

I think EF-M was a nice compact system, or do the younger generation want something smaller with a fixed lens?

A new point and shoot will also have to be competitive with the price, if it's going to cost more then a good smartphone then people will just upgrade to the better phone instead.
 
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#23
I think you are missing the point. The younger generation are after a new trendy "early digital" look in their photos - lower res, higher noise, lower DR, more muted colours. That is why they are after 10-20 year old compacts. It is this genenration's black & white or sepia retro look. They aren't looking for higher performance modern sensors and fancy auto-focus.
 
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#24
GreenViper said:
I think you are missing the point. The younger generation are after a new trendy "early digital" look in their photos - lower res, higher noise, lower DR, more muted colours. That is why they are after 10-20 year old compacts. It is this genenration's black & white or sepia retro look. They aren't looking for higher performance modern sensors and fancy auto-focus.
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Nothing you can't do in software, if you wish. See Fuji reserving a whole dial to select some "film look" in their latest camera. They might get tired of this new "lomography" wave and still have a good camera to explore more.
 
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#25
GreenViper said:
I think you are missing the point. The younger generation are after a new trendy "early digital" look in their photos - lower res, higher noise, lower DR, more muted colours. That is why they are after 10-20 year old compacts. It is this genenration's black & white or sepia retro look. They aren't looking for higher performance modern sensors and fancy auto-focus.
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actually, no. If you watch the TikTok videos, they wanted a camera that had a flash and looked like a step up from their iPhones.
 
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#28
GreenViper said:
I think you are missing the point. The younger generation are after a new trendy "early digital" look in their photos - lower res, higher noise, lower DR, more muted colours. That is why they are after 10-20 year old compacts. It is this genenration's black & white or sepia retro look. They aren't looking for higher performance modern sensors and fancy auto-focus.
Click to expand...

Does this make my Canon S95 worth more than $5?
 
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#29
dirtyvu said:
actually, no. If you watch the TikTok videos, they wanted a camera that had a flash and looked like a step up from their iPhones.
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Yup, just having a flash is a selling point.
I think the form factor is the main reason for wanting them, specifications and performance secondary. Color also matters, pink and purple cameras fetch a premium and are easier to sell etc. These things are to a large degree fashion statements.
When it comes to that "vintage look" I've had just a couple of buyers out of probably hundreds ask for it specifically and not being able to define what it means when asked, one of which thought of a 2005 Casio I had for sale as "too modern looking" when i showed some photos taken with it outdoors.
 
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#30
I still like using my small Nikon P340 (funnily enough a souvenir from Japan) and my wive has a Sony RX100 VA as her main camera. Both are great fun to use and especially the Sony wipes the floor with our phones' cameras (iPhone 12 and a Galaxy S21). But although we are not old, we are definitely not part of the youth. It is nice to see that these types of cameras are making a bit of a comeback!
 
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#31
Canon's insistence in producing only small mirrorles cameras with an EVF hump is a sign that some people in Canon marketing is out of touch. The M series should have long since changed to a normal apsc mount or even a full frame. I simply gave up waiting for a true M6mk2 replacement and purchaced the Panasonic S9.
 
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#32
It's "the EVF hump stupid". You do not need that EVF hump!! Take a cue from Sony, Panasonic, Fujifilm. Canon, where's the M6mk2 true replacement?. Canon stubornly refuses to admit where they went sideways. "We'll just give them a small mirrorless, but stick an EVF hump on it for the purist"
 
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#33
jam05 said:
Canon's insistence in producing only small mirrorles cameras with an EVF hump is a sign that some people in Canon marketing is out of touch. The M series should have long since changed to a normal apsc mount or even a full frame. I simply gave up waiting for a true M6mk2 replacement and purchaced the Panasonic S9.
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See, I just knew there was a reason behind all the market share Canon has been losing the past few years. Oh, wait...they haven't lost any. But thanks for sharing your opinion that Canon is out of touch, when it appears that you are the one out of touch...with reality. Have a nice day.
 
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#34
David_B said:
Does this make my Canon S95 worth more than $5?
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I saw a Canon S100 sell recently on an online auction for NZ$200, so yes.

I think in order of priority, the younger generation are looking for:

- Flash. This is an absolute must and makes photos pop and differentiates them from smartphone photos which don't have the flash power to recreate the look. It makes every photo look like it was shot by paparazzi. Even though it leaves harsh shadows, the direct flash makes skin look very smooth.

- Compactness and style. It has to fit into a purse or pocket. Nothing larger than a G7X. Bonus points for fun colours. When someone takes out a camera at a party they know it's to take photos and it has a lot of appeal.

- Unprocessed low dynamic range. The 2008 digicam look is as nostalgic to them as film or vinyl is to us millennials and older folk. Everything from red eye to incorrect date stamps adds to the vibe. They do not care about dynamic range or corner sharpness or any of the nitpicky things we argue about on forums.

- Fast turnaround. The group chat wants the photos the next morning so they can share them straight away with minimal edits. Many will use SD card readers that plug directly into their phone to copy the JPEGs straight from the card into their camera roll.
 
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#35
Skux said:
I saw a Canon S100 sell recently on an online auction for NZ$200, so yes.

I think in order of priority, the younger generation are looking for:

- Flash. This is an absolute must and makes photos pop and differentiates them from smartphone photos which don't have the flash power to recreate the look. It makes every photo look like it was shot by paparazzi. Even though it leaves harsh shadows, the direct flash makes skin look very smooth.

- Compactness and style. It has to fit into a purse or pocket. Nothing larger than a G7X. Bonus points for fun colours. When someone takes out a camera at a party they know it's to take photos and it has a lot of appeal.

- Unprocessed low dynamic range. The 2008 digicam look is as nostalgic to them as film or vinyl is to us millennials and older folk. Everything from red eye to incorrect date stamps adds to the vibe. They do not care about dynamic range or corner sharpness or any of the nitpicky things we argue about on forums.

- Fast turnaround. The group chat wants the photos the next morning so they can share them straight away with minimal edits. Many will use SD card readers that plug directly into their phone to copy the JPEGs straight from the card into their camera roll.
Click to expand...
Another thing I heard people say about it: you can take pictures without having your phone, so you won’t be tempted to start scrolling through your feeds during a party.
 
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#37
I messed around with a G9XMK2 recently and I didn't hate what came out of it, but the current compact lineup although popular as is evident by being out of stock everywhere may still be somewhat intimidating for camera shy people. They have a more serious appearance than the ultra compacts of yesteryear.

3L4A3142.JPG
 
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#39
My kid is 16 years old. She packs a Sony ZV1 and a very old Xiaomi Android phone to school every day. I told her she could update the phone if she wanted, but she told me it was unnecessary. For her, taking photos with the ZV1 is more exciting than a phone.
 
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