Cameras In 5 years

[Calicajun]

In five years, there will no longer be any DSLR cameras, they will all be mirror-less cameras about the size of the m4/3 cameras we have today that do most of your post processing in camera.

[BillDrew]

Originally Posted by JohnG

Dave - I guess I disagree about DSLR being the common form factor. Society today loves convenience and DSLRs are not convenient. The great masses don't want to be "photographers" they want to take good pictures. But they want to do so with convenience. Even today, for a large portion of the population a DSLR doesn't add much value. I think you've got a lot of people buying DSLRs now because it's a new electronic toy. But it's very inconvenient. After a number of months they regress back to digicam for "good enough" results in more convenient package. Smart phones are now encroaching on that market too. I expect mirrorless ILC to take over entry level DSLR. I expect mirrorless to eventually take over much of the DSLR market.

I also expect the market to shrink. Too much competition right now - margins probably becoming too small for everyone to remain.

I suspect that dSLRs will be around for a long time - just as 8x10" view cameras hung around as long as anyone was doing chemical photography. And dSLRs will be about as common.

A dSLR isn't as inconvenient as a view camera, and doesn't have as much capability, so it just might vanish.

[deadshot]

The only thing I would say is, that almost everything in my lifetime has got relatively cheaper, lighter, mostly smaller and more efficient.
i.e mobile phones, TVs ( may be big but a lot lighter and thinner), music players, popular cars, household gadgets, so why would cameras be different. I personally would love a small easy to carry all round lens camera that gave as good an image quality as any DSLR can turn out today.
For example if the new Pana FZ200 gave the same quality photos as say the best DSLR out there at the moment, I think it would be goodbye DSLRs.
Why would anyone want to carry a heavy body plus lenses around when it was no longer nescessary, very very few imho.

[Mosaic55]

Small pocket P&S cameras may give way to cell phone cameras, but I think the super-zooms, bridge cameras, mirror-less types will still be very popular with photo enthusiasts.

I see 3D still and (especially) video capability getting added to common consumer cameras.

[peruchox]

I think a camera with full size sensor, articulated flash, wireless flash control, wifi, 24x zoom , fast lense in a small body ( dmc-gf3).