Future of photography?

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I think it'll all be fine :)

The thing is, as Eric points out, photography tends to be a hobby for people with more disposable income and ability to travel more, so the age group, by default, trends towards the older side. Sure, most of the youth shooting with phones with stick with those phones as time goes on - much the same way most people stuck with point and shoot cameras - but there will always be people who want more.

As I scroll though various images there's an unmistakable trend - the image quality from phones just keeps getting better. And, in fact, there's more than a few articles and topics posts around the internet that ask if phones will replace "real" cameras one day. What that hypothesis fails to realize is that our "real" cameras are ALSO getting better all the time and still hold a very comfortable lead for capability and image quality. The technology and image quality we get now from our DSLR and mirrorless cameras absolutely blows away what was possible even just 10 years ago. There are some things you just can't do with a phone - and eventually the technology will get pushed to the point that physics gets in the way and it's gone as far as it'll go in that form factor.

I think the bottom line is that there will always be those who crave more than what they can get from their phones, so I think the future is safe. :)
 
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dtibbals said:
I notice that many of us myself included are not spring chickens. One of the local photo clubs that I have participated a couple of times with over the last couple of years I find that I am the youngest person (I am 47) that is a member. Most are retired with a few of us still working but they are in their late 50's. I am not sure but do schools still have photography programs? I wonder in another 20-40 years as technology advances and all of us dinosaurs who grew up on film are gone will there still be a photography community like we have here?

I wonder if there is more our generation should be doing to pass down the love of photography to a younger generation growing up with smart phones and social media?
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I am 48 (for a few more weeks) and I am usually the youngster at the photoclubs everywhere I have lived so I know what you mean. That said, my daughter (17) is learning photography and all sorts of mixed media in school. She uses her Fuji XT30 for her arts projects and then grabs the D500 to join me on wildlife shoots. The key difference is that she is after a visual end result - she just cares about technology enough to get what she wants, and if she can do it with her phone she will. But in the end, she is more passionate about images than I even am.

My sons (12 and 25) will join for wildlife shoots any day, as long as it's after 11am so we go to the west coast of Florida because I'll never get them up on the beach at 5am for sunrise on the east coast :) The young one is like me, he'll spend hours understanding every button, setting and effect on his D750 and he can't wait to put his hands on the D850 while my oldest wants the "dummy button" and just snap shots of the nature he loves.

How images are captured and how they are shared might be changing - the intensity and passion around it seems to only be increasing.
 
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Steve said:
I think it'll all be fine :)

The thing is, as Eric points out, photography tends to be a hobby for people with more disposable income and ability to travel more, so the age group, by default, trends towards the older side. Sure, most of the youth shooting with phones with stick with those phones as time goes on - much the same way most people stuck with point and shoot cameras - but there will always be people who want more.

As I scroll though various images there's an unmistakable trend - the image quality from phones just keeps getting better. And, in fact, there's more than a few articles and topics posts around the internet that ask if phones will replace "real" cameras one day. What that hypothesis fails to realize is that our "real" cameras are ALSO getting better all the time and still hold a very comfortable lead for capability and image quality. The technology and image quality we get now from our DSLR and mirrorless cameras absolutely blows away what was possible even just 10 years ago. There are some things you just can't do with a phone - and eventually the technology will get pushed to the point that physics gets in the way and it's gone as far as it'll go in that form factor.

I think the bottom line is that there will always be those who crave more than what they can get from their phones, so I think the future is safe. :)
Click to expand...

Darwinism will strike in our hobby, like anywhere else. The generation that tries to stop an inquisitive black bear or mountain lion by hitting them on the head with a phone will not live long enough to reproduce. Like I tell my kids, the only reason they are on this earth is because the Eos 1N was much harder than the head of a bear :)
 
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Following up on @Steve, phones can be popular for entry-level photography because users already have them with them (today’s ‘f/8 and be there’). But, just seeing the collection of phone add-on lenses, etc. shows there’s definitely a group looking for greater capabilities.
Nothing like having the desirable portability of the phone, then having to carry around some of the large wide angle, telephoto lens adapters… somewhat negating the portability advantage, affecting quality. Might as well carry a real camera.
 
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I have two seven year old kids in my neighbour hood who want to learn photography after coming with me for few bird walks.I have another kid of a friend who takes photos of birds of his dad's old PS camera when his dad upgraded to R6.
I do feel that cameras attract attention of younger people when they see an adult shooting.& then they want to learn
 
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Photography, the capture, processing and display of images is bigger than ever and continues to grow exponentially as mobile computing speeds up and the marginal cost of data peocessing and storage is about $0. Photography using what we call cameras is rapidly declining. Ten years ago a 100 million cameras, mostly point and shoot were sold. Last year? 10 million. Headed to 5, then 2. Hassy is owned by a drone company. Olympus is gone. Minolta is gone. Kodak who? Nikon, despite its very recent success is on the ropes. Fujifilm and Canon are in good shape because of diversification unrelated to cameras. Sony is a consumer electronics company that makes cameras.

Less than a generation from now cameras as we know them will be a rare novelty as film cameras are today.
 
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FB101 said:
Darwinism will strike in our hobby, like anywhere else. The generation that tries to stop an inquisitive black bear or mountain lion by hitting them on the head with a phone will not live long enough to reproduce. Like I tell my kids, the only reason they are on this earth is because the Eos 1N was much harder than the head of a bear :)
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I sense there is a story here...
 
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The future of most photography is in your pocket....yep, the smart phone. First there was cell phones, then cell phones with cameras. Now they are cameras that also make phone calls. Photo quality has improved enormously in a relatively short time. Photo processing software and machine learning has evolved just as fast.
Point and shoot cameras are effectively dead now. DSLR & ML are pretty much now for pros and enthusiasts.

It’s a bit of the modern disease as well. We have generations that want it all and now.... the cell phone is a one stop shop for them... video, still, slo mo, even macro just in your pocket. Post it on Facebook and Twitter.... instant gratificatio. No more backpacks, physical effort or time at the editing screen.
 
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I think the current trend is video.. it is being pushed by social media (like Youtube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram.) and Content creators but every now and then, Nostalgia evokes a comeback of older trends, like the ZFc, Fuji XT mimicking older cameras and even Film (which has a hype at the moment).

I also think photography is quite often passed on from parents to child. That's how it was form me, my Grandpa, my Father and Mother.. Now I am doing the same with my daughters.. they are 5 and 7 years old and already enjoy photographing with my D850 using the OVF. I doubt photography will ever perish.
 
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dtibbals said:
I notice that many of us myself included are not spring chickens. One of the local photo clubs that I have participated a couple of times with over the last couple of years I find that I am the youngest person (I am 47) that is a member. Most are retired with a few of us still working but they are in their late 50's. I am not sure but do schools still have photography programs? I wonder in another 20-40 years as technology advances and all of us dinosaurs who grew up on film are gone will there still be a photography community like we have here?

I wonder if there is more our generation should be doing to pass down the love of photography to a younger generation growing up with smart phones and social media?
Click to expand...

Well, one can write essays on the diverse questions you have posed.
I will talk about one specific aspect to keep it short.

Anecdotally, young people seem less & less interested in wildlife/nature photography.

In a country like India where I come from, where the population density is high & unplanned urbanization is a norm, sightings of even common birds in the outskirts of cities & within cities have drastically reduced in the last 3-5 years. I have noticed this personally & is also backed by some surveys.

This is a bummer & discourages bird photography/birding.

Even as technology gets cheaper, I don't see it catching on too much here.

But it will catch on a bit in developed countries, IMO. If technology gets cheaper & universal basic income takes off in developed countries, one could see more young people getting into birding/photography as a hobby.

I am 30 & mostly meet people older than me when I go on safaris etc.
 
I think art is in our DNA, it's the expression that varies as technology marches on. The old forms ebb and flow in popularity but new forms emerge as tech makes them possible. It's all good.
 
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I wonder how our hobby costs compare to other popular "hobbies"?

I have a brother in law whose hobby is golf. $20K (which he can barely afford) annually for club membership.
Someone mention the old farts driving those Harleys. I see them in groups of 10-20 often driving (a friggen 50mph:mad:) and most of these bikes start at $20K not to mention insurance, accessories, etc
Fishing is a huge hobby here but of course you need a boat which is not gonna be cheap.
So.....
I tell my wife I could be driving my Harley to the marina where my boat is docked ($600/season) after which I'll head to the club for a round with the boys OR.... I could buy another camera/lens
 
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One of my young friends aged around 35 just upgraded to R6 after birding with me for around 2 months He was a landscape photographer earlier.I also got queries from a 30 year old to know how to become a wild life photographer .

Wild life photography will live on since there will be always wild things to shoot around :D
 
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la551ve3 said:
I wonder how our hobby costs compare to other popular "hobbies"?

I have a brother in law whose hobby is golf. $20K (which he can barely afford) annually for club membership.
Someone mention the old farts driving those Harleys. I see them in groups of 10-20 often driving (a friggen 50mph:mad:) and most of these bikes start at $20K not to mention insurance, accessories, etc
Fishing is a huge hobby here but of course you need a boat which is not gonna be cheap.
So.....
I tell my wife I could be driving my Harley to the marina where my boat is docked ($600/season) after which I'll head to the club for a round with the boys OR.... I could buy another camera/lens
Click to expand...

Cant we do it all? Except the golf, the golf is boring.
 
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I started to teach myself to fly fish when I was in high school, JFK was President when I was a junior. One casual afternoon in 1995, on a break from making sales calls, I stopped at a local sports store along the Fox River and was introduced to high end/high performance graphite fly rods. HOLY CRAP! $400 to $500 for a 3 piece fly stick! By the end of that summer I had two and have been hooked ever since. For the past 14 years I have been giving fly casting lessons at an outdoor retailer; those most interested in learning to fly fish are definitely in their 50s or older. What I see at work are middle school and high school aged kids strong arming their parents and grandparents into dropping $200 to $300 for the latest/greatest baitcasting reel so they can be cool and show off at their school bass fishing clubs. Must be nice to have a patron who will buy you whatever you want???

As for the photography end and cell phone images in particular, our two daughters have to have the latest and best Samsung. OK, so the images look pretty good until you pop them onto the computer screen then check the image file size....NOT what is claimed or advertised, at least from the images my daughters have shared with me. I will stick with my D850 for now, Thank You!!!! Love all those pixels when I have to print 24" x 36" with detail!!!
 
flyguy said:
I started to teach myself to fly fish when I was in high school, JFK was President when I was a junior. One casual afternoon in 1995, on a break from making sales calls, I stopped at a local sports store along the Fox River and was introduced to high end/high performance graphite fly rods. HOLY CRAP! $400 to $500 for a 3 piece fly stick! By the end of that summer I had two and have been hooked ever since. For the past 14 years I have been giving fly casting lessons at an outdoor retailer; those most interested in learning to fly fish are definitely in their 50s or older. What I see at work are middle school and high school aged kids strong arming their parents and grandparents into dropping $200 to $300 for the latest/greatest baitcasting reel so they can be cool and show off at their school bass fishing clubs. Must be nice to have a patron who will buy you whatever you want???

As for the photography end and cell phone images in particular, our two daughters have to have the latest and best Samsung. OK, so the images look pretty good until you pop them onto the computer screen then check the image file size....NOT what is claimed or advertised, at least from the images my daughters have shared with me. I will stick with my D850 for now, Thank You!!!! Love all those pixels when I have to print 24" x 36" with detail!!!
Click to expand...
Some of those Samsung's are 108 megapixels and offer pixel binning if you only want a 24 megapixel capture. I'd like one of those.
 
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i'm guessing the way "in" is that some percentage of people taking photos with their cell will get an itch they can't accomplish with their cell phone. the upside is we have so many people with cell phones that the percentage doesn't need to be that great. the downside is that more people are viewing images that have been squished down to 1000px or 2000px, and so amazing images tend to be dumbed down, and thus inspire less
 
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Hard to know where it will go. I'm 42 and almost all my shooting buddies are a decade older at least.
But I do see lots of young birders out there and all of them are seeming to get better and better camera gear to go along with their bins.
So there seems to be some younger generation coming along in the wildlife genre. If they continue with their birding passion and eventually have more disposable income they can keep the high end market going...I hope.
 
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Ado Wolf said:
...I also think photography is quite often passed on from parents to child. That's how it was form me, my Grandpa, my Father and Mother.. Now I am doing the same with my daughters.. they are 5 and 7 years old and already enjoy photographing with my D850 using the OVF. I doubt photography will ever perish.
Click to expand...
- This is a big part of why I tend to keep old cameras instead of trading or selling them. I offer them to my children, or in one case to a high-schooler that was interested and looking to purchase a camera.
 
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