Camera Malaysia : Why Aren’t You Shooting?

I just read an interesting article by Mayflower Concept’s Heino Hilbig, who previously served as the Head of Marketing for Casio and the European Marketing Director for Olympus before starting his own consulting firm in the form of Mayflower Concepts.¹

Heino presented about the reason of the photography market collapse and insisted that it definitely isn’t caused by smartphones nor a saturation of the market, but an issue of redesigning camera concepts and simplifying the eco system. Is he correct? Sadly, at TechGarage, we have can’t fully agree.

Why Aren’t You Shooting -  State Of Cameras In Malaysia

You see, if you asked an average Malaysian on why he isn’t shooting anymore or much with his DSLR, the most common reason is the bulk. Pardon me, but why mention about the bulkiness of the camera and what does the question of whether the Malaysian photographer shoots anymore matters?

Well, that’s because when the consumer begins to equate the camera with being bulky, it means the camera is intrusive in their lives and a much simpler option exist. Take a look at Instagram’s astounding sale and subsequent continued growth to see that photography isn’t dead, but very much alive. And there are a lot of  Malaysian photographers handling cameras everyday, except that their cameras are on their iPhones and Android phones.

Having excess bulk also means

1. It is hard to bring a DSLR around when you have kids
2. Or kids and in-laws
3. There’s problems with safety and snatch thieves
4. It is always easier to reach for the iPhone
5. And share photos with the iPhone

Why Aren’t You Shooting : Camera Makers Need To Know

While it is as easy as to point, shoot and share on a smart phone, camera manufacturers like Canon, Nikon, Olympus and Fuji still insist that photographers need to download their photos, process them on their computers and then get those photos onto the smartphone before sharing them.

Rather than reducing the size and make it easy for the everyday folk to create beautiful photos easily, Japanese and German camera makers insist on giving you more pixels, more frames per second and a whole list of features that further alienate them from the needs of the masses. And that’s why photographers are not shooting on these cameras, but by their iPhones and such. Because camera makers got it all wrong.

Why Aren’t You Shooting : Conclusion

For the industry to be relevant to the younger generations, having more dials and more pixels, dynamic range and faster lenses just won’t do it. In the same way, camera accessories makers need to revise their accessories to more than just different colours or being lighter. Unless a change is done soon, the death spiral of interchangeable lens cameras will continue without abate.