2019: the turning year in photo equipment!

2019 will be the year marked as the definite separation between the "mass market" industrial philosophy and the return of the traditional "niche" photo enthusiasm market. That turning point was already inevitable since the Photo equipment industry cannot really compete with the smartphone electronic manufacturers. 

What is interesting and we are now knowing is that a technical fusion between traditional photo equipment and the newest smartphone products are not and cannot easily mergeable to get commercial success. For many years photo equipment reviewers were appealing for a such thing but consumer experiences had proven that many attempts to do so were almost always some kind of failure.

So traditional photo users’ market is still demanding for a ... traditional photo equipment at least in its design and presentation. All the efforts to divert from the classic ergonomics seem to not attract the photo equipment consumers. All major photo equipment manufacturers have quietly agreed to adopt a more orthodox approach for their camera line up. Today most camera models might be confused to analog (film) camera devices offered thirty years ago.

The none-event of the 2019 year might be the cancellation of the renew Photokina first planned in spring 2019. The Photokina organization have tried to recreate a photo industry gathering based of the past fast changing rate of the digital photo equipment of the last ten or fifteen years but without acknowledging this era was already finish. Now the big photo equipment shows are doomed to short presentations that are not able to compete with the strength of the Internet power of attraction. Can Photokina will be capable to reinvent itself without the contribution of the Nikon, Leica, Olympus or Fujifilm of this world? It appears to be a very difficult task.

The photo manufacturers are entering into a turmoil of indecision regarding the photo equipment evolution. Manufacturers like Nikon or Canon are skeptical to invest further into new technologies such as mirrorless cameras without knowing what the photo equipment market state in would be the next few years. In fact, they apprehend the worst with a constant disaffection of the traditional photo field. The last photo equipment consumer statistics are not looking conclusive. We are facing a mature market in “reflexion” and that is tempting to return to their obvious past (recent) choices as we are seeing from some prominent photo web reviewers. 

iPhoto Manon Paquette

At the end, the great era of the frenetic digital photo equipment consuming (at a fast rate of changing) have now went to its finality. Many are now welcoming to the return of more reasonable approach of choosing and buying their photo arsenal. In a more responsible eco world, that can be the real good news of this 2019 year!