Connectivity and ‘Smart’ – Most Interesting Camera Features

Just because the camera phone – you know those handy cameras on feature phones and smartphones – has become the everyday camera for many people doesn’t mean it’s all doom and gloom for traditional cameras. In the most recent InfoTrends Digital Camera End User study we found that digital cameras are still being used to take more photos on average than a camera phone and used more often for special occasion photos. The survey also asked a “blue sky” question about interest levels in some current and possible digital camera offerings. Read more »

Mobile Phone the ‘Everyday Camera’ in the U.S.

It was nearly two years ago when we heard Annie Liebovitz say that “the iPhone is the snapshot camera of today.” At the time I thought, “No way, Annie.” But being someone that regularly surveys consumers about their camera behaviors and future plans I wanted to see just how right (or wrong) she was. In 2011, we asked respondents of our annual Mobile Imaging web survey which camera they used most often to take pictures and learned that the digital camera was still the camera of choice, but just barely beating out mobile phones (feature & smartphones with built-in cameras). In the years that followed we approached the question a little differently and asked “Which device do you use most often to take photos for everyday use/occasions?”

The Survey Says….

Source: 2013 InfoTrends Mobile Imaging User Survey

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What are photos worth? In $$$?

Every year InfoTrends publishes a Personal Photo Activity Forecast for the U.S. which includes the number of photos that are captured. In 2012 InfoTrends estimates that 89 billion images will be captured in the US. We estimate that around 63 billion images will be captured in Western Europe this year.  Read more »

Megapixel Smartphones Pose a Threat to the Traditional Digital Camera Market

For as long as mobile phones have included embedded cameras, digital camera vendors have been wondering when—or even if—these handsets would begin to impact traditional digital still camera usage. Until recently, camera phones largely had a complementary effect on digital cameras. Mobile handsets were great for spontaneous photo capture because they were typically carried at all times, but the resulting images were generally low-quality. Meanwhile, digital cameras offered features that were far superior to those of camera phones, including high resolution, optical zoom, and quick shutter speeds. Traditional digital cameras were therefore the go-to devices for milestone events, special occasions, and vacations.

According to InfoTrends’ ongoing research on the mobile imaging market, smartphone adoption is currently exploding. Although less than 4% of respondents to our 2008 mobile imaging end-user survey were smartphone owners, this share had jumped to nearly 46% by 2012.

Figure 1: Share of Smartphone Users, 2008-2012

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The Nokia PureView 808 – Welcome Super Pixels!

Nokia PureView 808

Nokia set the mobile photography world all aflutter with talk of its PureView 808 smartphone, which was introduced at the Mobile World Congress in February 2012. The PureView 808 leapt over the competition, which tops out at 8-12 MP on the high-end cameras, to capture photos at up to 41 MPs. The camera combines a larger sized image sensor (1/1.2″), with software algorithm magic (Nokia-developed pixel over-sampling technology), and a lens designed by Carl Zeiss to deliver crisp clear mobile photos.

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Camera Phones/Smartphones may Bolster Photo Print Market

There is concern in the photo industry that the migration from digital still cameras to camera phones/smartphones and their increased usage will lead to fewer photos being printed. The concern is valid, as camera phones/smartphones provide an easy on-ramp for photos to be sent to online sites, which could potentially take print completely out of the viewing and sharing process.

We believe that for the near term the opposite will be true; that increased camera phone/smartphone usage will actually lead to more prints being generated. The rationale behind our thinking is that as more people rely on their camera phones/smartphones as everyday cameras and even use them more for special events, that a growing percentage of these photos will be important photos that they will want to share, preserve, or display as prints.

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The iPhone 4S: A Cool Phone with a Sweet 8MP Camera… But It’s NOT the iPhone 5!

On Tuesday, October 4, the Apple fans (and even the “not so much” fans) waited in anticipation to hear all about the iPhone 5. Sure enough, an announcement was made… but it was for the iPhone 4S rather than the 5.

Some people were surely let down when Tim Cook walked on stage to make this much-anticipated announcement. Many were sure that yesterday was going to mark the launch of the iPhone 5, and instead it turned out to be news of a souped-up version of the iPhone 4. I myself would typically grumble about the hype and wonder why the world goes crazy over these launch events… particularly when the news turns out to be somewhat anticlimactic. Instead, this self-professed “not so much” Apple fan yet avid camera lover (traditional or mobile) was thrilled to hear that Apple had further stepped up its game by including an 8MP embedded camera in its newest smartphone.

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The Mobile Convenience versus DSC Quality Battle Intensifies

Excerpt from Photo Industry Reporter’s State of the Industry 2011

In the war between digital still cameras and smartphones, a battle is being fought on a convenience versus quality front. Smartphones offer the convenience of instant sharing of images on social network sites and online photo services, but the image capture quality is not as good as many digital cameras.

Digital cameras offer some of the best image-capture quality, but their lack of connectivity makes the process of getting the images out of the camera and onto the Internet difficult.

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Smartphones Enter the Limelight

First introduced in early 2007, Apple’s wildly popular iPhone is arguably the device that started the smartphone craze in the consumer market. Meanwhile, many in the business world are glued to their “CrackBerries.” Recent research from InfoTrends confirms that smartphone penetration is growing by leaps and bounds, and for good reason—smartphones enable today’s on-the-go consumers to stay connected regardless of their physical location.

In April 2011, InfoTrends conducted its annual end-user survey on mobile imaging. Although this research covers all camera phones, smartphones have really come into their own over the past year. As might be expected, very few respondents reported owning smartphones (which are defined as handsets with Internet access, operating system software, and an embedded camera) during our 2008 research. Today, these devices are popping up everywhere. Between 2010 and 2011, the share of respondents who owned smartphones jumped from 16% to 24%. This represents an amazing year-over-year growth rate of 50%!

Smartphone Penetration among Survey Participants: 2008-2011

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Picture-Perfect Royal Wedding

The Royal Wedding between Prince William and Catherine Middleton on April 29^th was one of the most photographed events of the decade. Over 327 million photos were expected to be taken during Royal Wedding related festivities in the U.K., according to a study by InfoTrends, which was commissioned by Nikon.

Internally, we debated which type of camera would be most popular; specifically the digital still camera or the camera phone. Given that the Royal Wedding was a planned picture taking event, the front runner was the compact digital still camera. In an unscientific survey, we awarded the compact digital still camera the top prize. How did we arrive at the winner? We used a 1.15-gigapixel picture (made up of 189 photos shot by Spherical Images) that the BBC News posted on its website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13200114.

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