A shot in the arm for point and shoot cameras

Olympus and Panasonic -two important camera makers in the world has recently announced that  they are stopping the production of their cheaper point and shoot cameras.Olympus said they will stop manufacturing its V series cameras and Panasonic has decided to focus on its pro compact cameras and high end mirror less cameras. They say stiff competition from smartphones that has highly sophisticated cameras and the popularity of photo application

Instagram are the reasons for the dwindling market of compact cameras. Apple, Nokia and more importantly Samsung in recent times have put their energy into developing and improving smartphone technology resulting in a plethora of phones that offer quality pictures on par with the pictures taken with compact cameras.Some phones are even capable of outplaying DSLRs on certain occassions.There is an uptick in the sale of DSLRs, but surveys say most of the people who use DSLRs stick to the comfort zone of auto mode. Most of the time DSLRs are no more than a status symbol. This indicates that these people will not upgrade their camera.So it is aonly a one time purchase.

Smartphones are killing compact cameras. Soon these cute compacts will be part of history. But let us hope the art of photography will be alive.