Digital Camera News: Circuit City Survey, Fujifilm Real Photo Technology, IDC Digital Camera Forecast

[Ben Stafford]

Circuit City Survey Reveals What People are Looking for in Digital Cameras

Circuit City performed a survey of over 2,900 people to learn about what they're looking for in a digital camera, and who uses the camera most in a family (57% of respondents said that mom took the most family pictures).  Not surprising, 71% of people who are using a film camera are thinking of purchasing or are actively looking for a digital camera.  When looking for a digital camera, people ranked the primary features of digital imaging:

• 86% feel it's important to immediately see if they captured the image that they wanted
• 80% feel it's importat to be able to print only the images that they want
• 60% of folks feel that it's "very importat" to be able to share images via email, printing pictures at home, and organizing and storing pictures electronically 

When looking for a camera:

• Sixty-five percent said they want better picture resolution (more megapixels)
• Fourteen percent said they're looking for smaller, more stylish design
• Thirteen percent said they want faster shutter speed
• Eight percent said they're looking for a better lens

Fujifilm Profiles Their Real Photo Technology

With the release of the Fujfilm Finepix V10 (currently available) and Finepix F30 (shipping this month), Fujifilm is promoting their Real Photo Technology which reduces digital noise "at the source".  Digital noise appears as graininess, colored spots and color flecks in images taken in low light.

Fujifilm Finepix F30

When shooting in low light without a flash, the camera must increase the length of time that the shutter is open to expose the image correctly.  However, the longer shutter speed also makes any moving objects blurry (and if you're hand holding the camera, everything will blur).  In order to make the shutter speed faster, the sensitivity of the sensor can be increased.

The Real Photo Technology in the Fujifilm cameras allow them to shoot at high sensitivities (high ISO values).  The F30 can shoot at an equivalent of ISO 3200, the highest sensitivity in a compact digital camera.  In order to make it easy for the photographer who doesn't want to know what ISO means, Fujifilm has included an easy to access mode, Picture Stabilization, to the mode dial on the F30.

Full press release

Highlights of Worldwide Digital Still Camera Forecast from IDC

The Worldwide 2006-2010 Digital Still Camera Forecast from IDC provides a high level view of the digital still camera market, including 2005 total shipments and forecasts for 2006-2010.  Data is included from the United States, Japan, Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and ROW (Rest of World).  Here are a couple highlights:

• Global demand will continue to grow with 111 million units shipping in 2008, but a slowdown is on the horizon
• Asia/Pacific and ROW will be the major growth markets, accounting for 40% of worldwide digital still camera shipments in 2010
• More vendors will exit the market in next 18 months

To get the full report, you can purchase the full Worldwide 2006-2010 Digital Still Camera Forecast from IDC.

[UFG]

65% of people want more resolution, but i'd say a majority of that group of people already have more than enough resolution in their current cameras for what they'll most likely be doing (4x6 prints). Hopefully the megapixel wars will be over soon and we'll all be able to benefit from real improvements in our digital cameras.

13% say they want faster shutter speed? I think they're looking for faster shutter response. Most compacts can go up to 1/2000, which is plenty fast for pretty much anything.

Interesting...

[Brian]

Good point, just goes to show that mose people are confused by digital cameras. You have to give some credit to teh manufacturers for making people think they need more megapixels.

[Quikster]

65% of people want more resolution, but i'd say a majority of that group of people already have more than enough resolution in their current cameras for what they'll most likely be doing (4x6 prints). Hopefully the megapixel wars will be over soon and we'll all be able to benefit from real improvements in our digital cameras.

The other problem is that people equate more mexapixels with better quality pictures which is not necessarily true at all. Since as we know the sensor, optics, and the image processing is very important here.