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Why have cameras and lenses become so expensive?

dpreview.com

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Re: Why have cameras and lenses become so expensive?

#71

Post by jacquesm »

chunkyks wrote: post #61
jacquesm wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not like that company would put their brand on anything crap. No, but that company no longer exists and the owners of the brand really have no problem selling the name for use on crap. You simply bought into that myth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasselblad#Fuji,_Shriro,_Imaco...

It's true that I bought into the myth, but it's also because I don't care; as not-a-photographer, this seems to do a great job of taking pictures of my baby & dogs, at a resolution at least as good as the screen I look at them on. Anything else is gravy.

Fair enough. I think the main takeaway is that photographic gear is now so dirt cheap that branding and really high end gear only matters to the pros, everybody else could just use their phone. That won't stop a whole bunch of them from buying stuff they don't need, but that's fine, it brings the price down for the professionals.

Re: Why have cameras and lenses become so expensive?

#72

Post by voisin »

jurassic wrote: post #20

I'm a prosumer hobbyist with a Nikon D850 and a handful of expensive lenses that I enjoy, but I'm not sure I would buy them again. I love the experience of shooting with them and loath the experience of getting my images off the device and onto a computer or phone. It creates a film-like experience where by the time I get around to processing images I've often forgotten what I've shot. What I really want is an iPhone…

Is the Nikon app an acceptable improvement to workflow? I understand it only moves a 2MP copy of the image to your phone or tablet which is a bizarre constraint but likely easily fixed in future updates if enough users demand it.

Re: Why have cameras and lenses become so expensive?

#73

Post by mark-r »

samatman wrote: post #31
mark-r wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cause and effect you imply here are backwards I think. The products are better to justify their higher price, not higher priced because they're better. The first sentence has it right - if you're faced with lower volumes, the best way to cope is by raising prices.

I don't think it's either of those things. The products are better because of steady improvement in precision manufacturing. Sensors and lenses have both come a long way, the latter is mostly a benefit of cheaper precision steppers. The prices are higher because phones have taken the whole entry tier of the market out, pretty much. There's not a lot of point in a good digital camera with one noninterchangeable zoom l…

You're correct that the cell phone has killed off the low end. People used to believe that they needed a proper camera to get their casual snapshots, but more and more they realize the camera built into their phone is perfectly adequate to the task. So fewer and fewer people are buying those "proper" cameras, leading to the reduced volumes. But reduced volumes lead to reduced revenue, and reduced revenue is poison to any company. So they compensate by raising prices. People generally respond poorly to raising prices for no reason, so they make the goods better to justify it. The methods used to make them better are irrelevant.

Re: Why have cameras and lenses become so expensive?

#74

Post by photojosh »

samatman wrote: post #29
jurassic wrote: post #20

I'm a prosumer hobbyist with a Nikon D850 and a handful of expensive lenses that I enjoy, but I'm not sure I would buy them again. I love the experience of shooting with them and loath the experience of getting my images off the device and onto a computer or phone. It creates a film-like experience where by the time I get around to processing images I've often forgotten what I've shot. What I really want is an iPhone…

The software, and integration with my other devices, feels twenty years in the past (I have a Sony) and the quality of still photography is better, but with phone cameras steadily closing the gap. The quality of video is massively better, however. Just no comparison. My ideal would be for Apple to buy Blackmagic. Probably wouldn't, but... can you imagine if they did?

I've not had a standalone camera* in years, but contemplating the cheapest way to get back in so I can shoot some of the kids' sports.

All I want, like I think you're alluding to here, is a micro 4/3rds interchangeable lens camera that has good integration with my phone. Apple would absolutely kill it if they had one with their camera ISP (even with an older CPU*), and just instantly dumped the photos into your library on the phone.

* except for a few action/waterproof ones

* say the A12, it's being used in the new AppleTV, so why not.

Re: Why have cameras and lenses become so expensive?

#75

Post by Woodi »

aoeusnth1 wrote: post #56
jurassic wrote: post #20

I'm a prosumer hobbyist with a Nikon D850 and a handful of expensive lenses that I enjoy, but I'm not sure I would buy them again. I love the experience of shooting with them and loath the experience of getting my images off the device and onto a computer or phone. It creates a film-like experience where by the time I get around to processing images I've often forgotten what I've shot. What I really want is an iPhone…

I shoot mostly around the house (kids), and the Sony FTP transfer feature is a godsend. Images get uploaded to my NAS over my wifi as I’m shooting, and subsequently filed away under dated folders and synced to Photostructure and NextCloud by a small shell script using inotifywait.

"FTP" - very convenient and all. Just one thing: to me looks like when Inet dropped FTP becouse unsecure and too complicated to configure LOL camera industry instanlty picked it up... So, are camera's manufacturers totally dumb or FTP was too good for plain internet users ? And FTPS or FTPTLS idea was too hard to use ? But monstrosity like HTTP+many-many-addons is OK ?

Re: Why have cameras and lenses become so expensive?

#76

Post by rapjr9 »

jurassic wrote: post #20

I'm a prosumer hobbyist with a Nikon D850 and a handful of expensive lenses that I enjoy, but I'm not sure I would buy them again. I love the experience of shooting with them and loath the experience of getting my images off the device and onto a computer or phone. It creates a film-like experience where by the time I get around to processing images I've often forgotten what I've shot. What I really want is an iPhone…

>I want real connectivity built into the device

Cellular networks don't seem fast/cheap enough to upload thirty 100MP images from anywhere you happen to be (or 4K video). 5G is not going to be there all the time when you are out in the woods. Pro photographers often carry a hard drive that you can plug an SD card into to backup your photos immediately in the field. When they get home they plug the drive into a computer and run ingest software (there are a variety of these available) and automatically all their photos are then in a known place ready to be reviewed, edited, etc. It's not wireless, and it takes a little discipline and takes some time to research and set up, but once you have a system it would seem to be fairly painless (haven't tried it yet myself) and would make your photos and video available quickly without having to think about it much.

Re: Why have cameras and lenses become so expensive?

#77

Post by aoeusnth1 »

Woodi wrote: post #75
aoeusnth1 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I shoot mostly around the house (kids), and the Sony FTP transfer feature is a godsend. Images get uploaded to my NAS over my wifi as I’m shooting, and subsequently filed away under dated folders and synced to Photostructure and NextCloud by a small shell script using inotifywait.

"FTP" - very convenient and all. Just one thing: to me looks like when Inet dropped FTP becouse unsecure and too complicated to configure LOL camera industry instanlty picked it up... So, are camera's manufacturers totally dumb or FTP was too good for plain internet users ? And FTPS or FTPTLS idea was too hard to use ? But monstrosity like HTTP+many-many-addons is OK ?

Well, it’s on my own private network so I’m not as concerned. I don’t expose my NAS to the public.
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